Red states deal huge blow to BlackRock and Vanguard, impose strict rules on investment firms

More than 25 state financial officers have drawn a line in the sand with corporate giants including BlackRock and Fidelity.

The group, made up of mostly treasurers, represents 21 states, 16 of which are governed by Republicans and five by Democrats. Together, they sent a damning letter to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, along with other major financial firms like JPMorgan Chase and Vanguard, announcing that their states are willing to cut off ties if certain stipulations are not met.

The letter is in reaction to a recent decision by Texan authorities to remove BlackRock from its state blacklist after the investment firm announced it would roll back its climate change initiatives. The other 21 states say, however, that BlackRock and others have not done enough.

'These financial officers are doing the right thing for their states.'

The state reps, all of whom are Republican, said that these companies must return to a "traditional fiduciary duty" in which they focus 100% on financial return, instead of using capital to advance left-wing social and political agendas.

In their letter to Fink, the financial officers said that while some companies have started moving in the right direction by withdrawing from global climate coalitions, there is still more work to be done.

The treasurers outlined five actions the firms must take to demonstrate a "commitment to a fiduciary model grounded in financial integrity, not political advocacy."

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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (R) speaks with Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 15, 2025. Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

The first term called for the end of "framing deterministic future outcomes as long-term risks to justify immediate ideological interventions through corporate engagement or proxy votes." Climate change initiatives are listed as the most common example of this issue.

Other requirements demanded that companies "abstain from embedding international political agendas" within their company framework, which included "net-zero climate mandates" and the "EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)."

Additionally, in order to work with these states, firms must also divulge all "affiliations and collaborative initiatives" that could influence investment strategies or priorities.

"Participation in such groups must not compromise a fiduciary's obligation to act solely on behalf of beneficiaries," the state representatives declared.

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Photo by Barry Chin/the Boston Globe via Getty Images

"Actions always speak louder than words. Requiring America's financial giants to prove their independence from woke ideology with concrete steps before doing business with a state's dollars is fully necessary and just makes sense," OJ Oleka, CEO of State Financial Officers Foundation, said in a statement provided to Blaze News.

Oleka added, "These financial officers are doing the right thing for their states and the taxpayers whose financial security they've been entrusted to protect."

In total, 18 companies received a letter from the state financial officers: Amundi, BlackRock Inc., BNY Mellon, Capital Group, Fidelity Investments, Franklin Templeton Investments, Geode Capital Management, Goldman Sachs, Invesco, JPMorgan Chase, Legal & General, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, Nuveen, State Street Corporation, T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, and Wellington Management Company.

The states represented in the letter to investment firms were as follows: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.