The 10 biggest billionaire donors to Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and others this election
Politics is expensive. That goes double for election years.
Overall, federal election spending is expected to breach the $15.9 billion record set in 2020, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign spending and lobbying.
That’s a jaw-dropping amount of cash — and doesn’t even factor in state campaigns. An election set in Wisconsin’s 8th Senate District, for example, raised $7.1 million, making it the most expensive race in the state legislature’s history. The previous record, set in 2020, has been beaten eight times this year by Wisconsin state races, according to The Badger Project.
On the federal level, just 16% of cash has come from small donors, OpenSecrets reported on Oct. 8. The remainder has come from major donors able to fling millions of dollars at races that catch their eye.
These are the 10 biggest donors of the 2024 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reviewed by Quartz, as well as analyses byOpenSecrets and The Washington Post.
Stephen Schwarzman
Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and his wife, Christine Schwarzman, a lawyer and theatrical producer, are big donors, giving some $40 million to political causes this election cycle.
That includes $9 million to the pro-Republican Senate Leadership Fund and $8 million to More Jobs, Less Government, a super PAC backing Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy against Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. The Schwarzmans have also donated $4.5 million to the Great Lakes Conservatives Fund (GLCF, Inc.) super PAC supporting Mike Rogers, a Republican running to represent Michigan in the Senate.
In May, Schwarzman said he would support former President Donald Trump, turning his back on his previous call for a “new generation of leaders” after the 2022 midterm elections. Schwarzman had previously supported Trump but withdrew support after his chosen candidates were largely defeated that year.
Bill Gates
Microsoft founder and ex-CEO Bill Gates has made one major donation this election cycle: a $50 million contribution to Vice President Kamala Harris.
The donation, which was meant to be private, was first reported by the New York Times last month. The money went to Future Forward, the main outside fund-raising group supporting Harris, through its nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, which doesn’t disclose its donors.
Gates, who co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has a net worth of $103 billion, told the Times in a statement that he supports candidates “who demonstrate a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change in the U.S. and around the world.”
He recently said he wanted to raise taxes for 70% of the U.S.’ wealthiest Americans, telling The Independent that he is a “huge believer in estate tax and more progressive taxation.”
Paul Singer
Hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, the co-CEO of Elliott Management, is a significant figure both on Wall Street and in the political landscape.
Singer is the chairman of the think tank Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, has sat on the board of the magazine Commentary, and backed the Washington Free Beacon. Business leaders have given almost $200 million to the Manhattan Institute in recent years, Bloomberg News reported in June.
Singer has given some $27 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, $14.5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, and $5 million to the pro-Trump Make America Great Again, Inc. Each of those groups supports Republican causes, namely electing candidates to Congress and the White House.
Michael Bloomberg
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is one of the few donors who have given as much to support Democrats as other wealthy individuals have Republicans.
Until recently, Bloomberg had donated just $47 million to efforts supporting Harris’ election bid. However, Democrats close to him recently convinced him to support Harris’ campaign with a $50 million donation to a nonprofit supporting her candidacy. He has also given millions of dollars to a group supporting Democratic House candidates and Everytown-Demand a Seat PAC, which supports pro-gun-control candidates.
In an op-ed, Bloomberg, the 13th richest person in the world, said Harris recognizes the need for comprehensive immigration reform and noted that Harris’ “politically motivated” tax policies would do “far less damage” to the economy than her rival’s tariff-heavy and tax-cutting plans. He also pointed to Harris’ stances on climate change, public health, and gun safety as reasons for his support.
Jeffrey Yass
Jeffrey Yass helped found Susquehanna International Group in 1987. Since then, that firm has become one of Wall Street’s biggest trading firms, employing more than 3,000 employees across the world and investing in hundreds of private companies.
Yass, a registered libertarian, and his wife, Janine, a charter school founder and advocate, have spent millions of dollars on federal elections this year. All in all, they’ve given at least $96 million.
That includes $35 million to Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC, and $10 million to the pro-Republican Congressional Leadership Fund. He’s also given $19 million to Protect Freedom PAC, a super PAC affiliated with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul that Yass has bankrolled since 2017.
Ken Griffin
Citadel CEO and Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin has donated more than $100 million this election cycle, with some of the biggest contributions going to groups supporting Republican Senate and House candidates.
That includes $30 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and $17 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund. He’s also donated $15 million to Keystone Renewal PAC, which is supporting Pennsylvanian Senate candidate Dave McCormick, a former Bridgewater Associates CEO and an official in former President George W. Bush’s administration.
The billionaire has donated hundreds of millions of dollars since 2015 and hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with Trump, who Griffin thinks will win the presidency. In Florida, where Citadel is headquartered, Griffin has helped fund a campaign against a referendum on legalizing recreational marijuana, Bloomberg News reported. That puts Griffin at odds with a coalition consisting of Trump, “Pot Daddy,” and the cannabis industry.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk hardly needs an introduction at this point — he’s the wealthiest man alive, the leader of multiple companies, and a potential government employee.
Musk has spent at least $118 million of his own cash on efforts to help Republicans this election cycle, while his America PAC has spent just shy of $150 million to support Trump, according to a Sunday filing. That PAC, which Musk founded earlier this year, has also dropped millions of dollars on Congressional races.
America PAC has been tapped to run Trump’s outreach efforts and canvassing in several key battleground states, but not without controversy. WIRED last week reported that canvassers contracted by the group’s subcontractor, Blitz Canvassing, were flown into Michigan, transported in the back of a seatless U-Haul, and threatened with losing motel accommodations if they didn’t reach goals.
After that report, workers were fired and stranded in Michigan without transportation and were still owed money, WIRED reported Sunday. One canvasser WIRED spoke to was paid only after a recruiter was contacted by the publication. That canvasser — who was also the recruiter’s cousin — texted her soon after: “Please let wired know that you’ve been paid asap.”
Musk and America PAC are also dealing with litigation in Pennsylvania over his group’s $1 million giveaways. Although Musk said the prizes would be awarded “randomly” to people who signed a petition, his team argued in court Monday that the giveaways are not a lottery and $1 million is a salary they “earn” by becoming an America PAC spokesperson.
Musk has also donated roughly $12.3 million to groups supporting Republican Senate candidates.
Miriam Adelson
Miriam Adelson, a physician and the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, has continued to donate massive sums of money in recent years.
She has given $100 million to the pro-Trump Preserve America PAC and has given $15 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and $9 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, both of which support Republicans running for Congress. In 2018, Trump awarded Adelson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside Elvis Presley and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who received their medals posthumously.
The Israeli-born Adelson is thought to have helped push Trump to move the U.S. embassy in the country to Jerusalem. According to The New York Times, she has been “fiercely hawkish” on Israel and would likely help shape a potential Trump administration’s position on the current conflict. Last November, she argued that critics of Israel “are our enemies” and “should be dead to us.”
The Uihleins
Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, the founders of Wisconsin-based shipping and packaging materials company Uline, are some of the biggest donors to Republican causes.
They’ve donated at least $76 million this cycle to Restoration PAC, a conservative group that “opposes Leftists and the woke agenda,” according to its website. They’ve also given $19 million to Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC that touts its work helping Republicans such as Sen. Paul and Lousiana Gov. Jeff Landry. The Uihleins have also given $10 million to the pro-Trump Make America Great Again, Inc.
The Uihleins have backed candidates across the U.S. — from 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano to former Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert — as well as backed election denial claims. In 2023, they were involved in both the battle to lead the Republican National Committee and for U.S. House speaker. The latter was through Club for Growth, which is backed mostly by the Uihleins and Yass.
Timothy Mellon
Timothy Mellon, the grandson of former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and heir to the Mellon banking empire, has emerged as the biggest political donor of the 2024 election cycle.
Mellon has given almost $200 million to Republican candidates and former independent candidate for president Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has since backed Trump. Kennedy, who Trump has promised to put in charge of public health initiatives and recently said he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water, was given $25 million by Mellon.
Mellon donated another $15 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which supports Republican House candidates. He contributed some $150 million to Make America Great Again, Inc.
In the 1970s, Mellon was known for giving to charities supporting Native Americans, as well as feminist and ecological causes, the New York Times reported. According to the Washington Post, citing his autobiography, he voted for Democrats such as Jimmy Carter, George McGovern, and Lyndon B. Johnson and supported civil rights.
By 2014, he was found in online chat rooms comparing climate change scientists to the terrorist group ISIS and had engaged in legal disputes over claims he had identified Amelia Earhart’s skull and other body parts, according to reports.
Mellon became known as someone who specialized in acquiring troubled companies, including railroads and an airline, and trying to turn them around. His companies repeatedly ran into trouble with regulators over environmental and safety violations. In 2020, he announced a sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX, which was left rebuilding a neglected railway.
