Nov.07

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Who Are the Biggest Donors This Cycle?

Election spending is up by $2 billion compared to 2018. Big donors are a big part of that. Open Secrets estimates that half a billion dollars of campaign money came from just 10 very rich individuals. Most of the money went to super PACs, which then spent it on (typically, negative) ads. Here is the list:

• George Soros (D), $129 million: Hedge fund manager Soros gave $129 million to his own PAC, which then doled it out to Democratic super PACs. A donation of $10.5 million went to a super PAC controlled by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Planned Parenthood also got money. He also gave money to support democracy in his native Hungary, which led the country's authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to attack Soros, who is Jewish, with antisemitic tropes. Soros is now worth only about $8 billion (because he has already given away most of his money), but he is also 92 years old, so he is not in danger of running out of money before he runs out of... well, time.
  
  
• Richard Uihlein (R), $81 million: Uihlein is an heir to the Schlitz beer fortune and also the co-founder of a successful shipping-supplies company. He shuns the spotlight but his donations get him publicity, whether he wants it or not. He gave $23 million to the Club for Growth, a top conservative group. He also gave $3.5 million to Ron Johnson's PAC.
  
  
• Kenneth Griffin (R), $69 million: Griffin is worth $31 billion, making him one of the wealthiest megadonors. He gave $18.5 million to the super PAC of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and $10 million to the super PAC of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). With close relations with McCarthy and McConnell and lots of money, he is going to be a force in Republican politics for years to come. Also noteworthy: He is tired of Donald Trump and can't wait until Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) runs for president. Consequently, if DeSantis decides to jump in after the midterms, money won't be a problem.
  
  
• Jeff Yass (R), $47 million: Yass is not as widely known as some of the other donors. He is the founder of the quantitative-trading Susquehanna International Group and vice chair of the libertartian Cato Institute's board. He favors candidates who advocate for low taxes. He gave $15 million to the School for Freedom Fund, which attacked Democrats for closing schools during the pandemic and for allegedly allowing schools to teach critical race theory (which very, very few K-12 schools do). He also gave $5 million to a super PAC supporting Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and $2 million to the Crypto Freedom PAC.
  
  
• Timothy Mellon (R), $40 million: Mellon is the grandson of banking tycoon Andrew Mellon and was chairman of a company that bought freight rail giant CSX this year. He gave $10 million to Kevin McCarthy's super PAC and $5 million to a super PAC that used it all to attack Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). During the Trump administration, he gave $53 million to a fund trying to build a wall on the Mexican border.
  
  
• Sam Bankman-Fried (D), $40 million: Bankman-Fried is new to the list. He is founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, so new money. He gave $28 million to Democrats facing progressives in primaries. At one point he said he would put $1 billion into the elections, but has come nowhere near that.
  
  
• Fred Eychaner (D), $36 million: Eychaner, who owns radio stations and newspapers in Chicago, is a long-time Democratic donor and supporter of LGBTQ+ causes. He gave $8 million to the House Majority PAC and $8 million to the Senate Majority PAC. He also maxed out on donations to the DNC and all the Democratic committees.
  
  
• Stephen Schwarzman (R), $36 million: Schwarzman is CEO of Blackstone, one of the world's largest private equity firms. He's been a top-10 donor in each of the past three elections cycles. This year he gave $10 million to both the House and Senate super PACs.
  
  
• Peter Thiel (R), $33 million: German immigrant Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, and who wants the country to clamp down on immigration, is an emerging Republican donor. He gave $15 each to super PACs supporting Blake Masters and J.D. Vance in the primaries, but not much since then.
  
  
• Larry Ellison (R), $31 million: Oracle chairman Ellison with worth about $100 billion, making him the wealthiest donor on the list, but also the stingiest of the top 10. He gave $20 million to a super PAC aligned with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
  

One noteworthy omission is Charles Koch, who doesn't seem to have gotten involved in politics this cycle. The other half of the fabled Koch brothers, David Koch, also wasn't active in politics this year, but he has a better alibi: He died in 2019. (V)