Not to mention employ the politician's constituents.
I don't know if it's ever been conclusively proven, but it's been alleged for decades that the major defense contractors deliberately structure their big projects into subcontracts that can employ people in as many Congressional districts as possible. There are allegedly people in 300+ districts working on the F-35 program, for example.
Oh absolutely. Boeing "subcontracts" out tons of what they do to as many states as possible. Each state == 2 senators that are worried about "jobs". Turns out in the long run it's cheaper to ship pieces around the country than "lobby" just 2 senators from Washington.
