Two rival super PACs focused on November’s midterm House elections have raised a total of nearly $100 million from at least 59 of the country’s richest people. But the billionaire donors to the Republican PAC gave nearly four times more than the Democrats.
Citadel's Ken Griffin.Aaron Kotowski for Forbes
Voters go to the polls less than a month from now, but many of the nation’s billionaires have already made their midterm choices clear. At least 59 billionaires reported giving a total of nearly $100 million to a pair of super PACs dueling for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. These party-aligned groups have hoarded much of the cash so far, but if history is any indication, the floodgates are about to open.
The Republican Party has significant deep-pocketed help from at least 42 billionaires and their spouses, whose political donations will likely pay for a wave of ads leading up to the November 8 election. These billionaires and their spouses have funneled $79 million into the Congressional Leadership Fund, the GOP’s main super PAC dedicated to electing House Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records. That’s nearly half of the $189 million the PAC has raised this election cycle as of its most recent filing of receipts through September 12. It’s also nearly 80% of the $98 million that the Democrats’ competing House Majority PAC has received from all sources as of its most recent filing of receipts through August 31. A spokesperson for the PAC told Forbes it raised $36 million in September, as first reported by the New York Times.
Hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin led the way for the Republicans, giving the Congressional Leadership Fund $18.5 million. A spokesperson for Griffin told Forbes that “Ken wants to elevate talented candidates and broaden the tent of the Republican Party to make it more representative of our country. He supports leaders who will focus on education, job creation, public safety, and a strong national defense so that every individual has access to the American dream.”
HOUSE SUPER PAC’s BILLIONAIRE BACKERS
Three other billionaires donated $10 million apiece to the GOP super PAC: Insurer Patrick Ryan, private equity mogul Steven Schwarzman and casino heiress Miriam Adelson. Banking heir Timothy Mellon, whose family is worth an estimated $11.5 billion, also contributed $10 million (though because he’s not an individual billionaire, his donation is not included in Forbes’ totals.) Another four billionaires, including hedge fund investor Paul Singer, each gave $4 million or more.
The Democrats’ PAC–The House Majority PAC–had plenty of big backers as well, but the total amount they contributed was much less. Altogether 17 billionaires and their spouses (including Connie Ballmer, the wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who made a $1 million contribution; Steve did not contribute) gave $20 million. Just over a quarter of that total came from the richest American in crypto: 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX exchange and trading firm Alameda Research. He directed $6 million of his $39 million in total political donations this year to the House Majority PAC. That’s more than all but five of the Republican PAC’s billionaire donors contributed.
“In the end, I care about policy more than politics,” Bankman-Fried told Forbes via email last week. “My giving has been bipartisan, and my goal is to help support great policy makers.”
Bankman-Fried has supported Republicans as well during this cycle, primarily through his $2 million contribution to the blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused GMI super PAC, but the bulk of his giving, including $27 million to the Protect Our Future super PAC, has ultimately ended up in the hands of Democrats. According to Bankman-Fried, “much of this was for primaries, rather than D vs R general elections” ($33 million of his contributions were made during the first four months of 2022.)
So far, the Republican PAC has spent more of its money, spreading $109 million across House races as of its most recent filing of disbursements through October 7; $14 million has gone toward touting Republican candidates, while the rest has funded attacks on their opponents. The Democratic PAC, meanwhile, appears to be just getting started, having only spent $32 million on House races as of its most recent filing of disbursements through October 7. All but $2 million of that has gone to attack Republicans.
Despite having already spent sizable sums, both parties still have big stockpiles: $127 million for the Republicans as of their most recent cash filing through September 12 and $78 million for the Democrats as of August 31. (Updated filings are expected on October 15 for the Republicans and October 20 for the Democrats.) That money will likely flood the airwaves with ads in the next few weeks. Over the last two election cycles, the Republican PAC spent 60% of its expenditures in October (On Monday, the PAC announced its fall TV and streaming ad reservations now total more than $190 million.) The Democratic PAC shelled out even more, nearly 80% of its expenditures, in the final push.
🔴 REPUBLICAN DONORS
Here are the billionaires and their spouses identified by Forbes who contributed to the Republicans’ Congressional Leadership Fund from Jan. 1, 2021 through Sept. 12, 2022:
Aaron Kotowski for Forbes
1. Ken Griffin
Net Worth: $29.8 billion
Amount Donated: $18.5 million
2. Patrick Ryan
3. Steven Schwarzman
Net Worth: $29.1 billion
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
4. Miriam Adelson
Net Worth: $28.9 billion
5. Charles Schwab
Net Worth: $11.2 billion
Amount Donated: $6.5 million (with wife Helen)
6. Jude Reyes
Amount Donated: $4.2 million
7. Chris Reyes
Amount Donated: $4.2 million
8. Paul Singer
Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
9. Warren Stephens
Amount Donated: $2.5 million
10. Bernard Marcus
Net Worth: $8.1 billion
11. Paul Foster
12. Elizabeth Uilhein
Barry King/Getty Images
13. Thomas Tull
14. Charles B. Johnson
15. Trevor Rees-Jones
Amount Donated: $750,000 (with wife Jan)
16. Duke Reyes
17. Ken Fisher
Amount Donated: $718,000 (with wife Sherrilyn)
18. Robert Rowling
Eric Millette for Forbes
19. Douglas Leone
Residence: Atherton, CA
20. Daniel Loeb
21. Steve Wynn
Jamel Toppin for Forbes
22. Philip Anschutz
Net Worth: $10.9 billion
23. Ronald Lauder
24. H. Ross Perot, Jr.
25. Sam Zell
Residence: Chicago, IL
Ethan Pines for Forbes
26. Tom Siebel
Residence: Woodside, CA
Amount Donated: $15,000 (with wife Stacey)
At least eight billionaires and their spouses donated $10,000:
Lorenzo Fertitta (and wife Teresa) | $2.6 billion | Casinos, Mixed Martial Arts | Las Vegas
Christopher Goldsbury | $1.8 billion | Salsa | San Antonio, TX
Ken Langone | $5.8 billion | Investments | Sands Point, NY
Geoffrey Palmer | $2.6 billion | Real Estate | Beverly Hills, CA
Kenny Trout (and wife Lisa) | $1.5 billion | Telecom | Dallas, TX
At least eight billionaires and their spouses donated $5,000:
Julia Argyros (wife of George Argyros) | $2.1 billion | Real Estate, Investments | Newport Beach, CA
Jeffrey Hildebrand | $11.2 billion | Oil | Houston, TX
Ray Lee Hunt | $5.7 billion | Oil, Real Estate | Dallas, TX
Palmer Luckey | $1.4 billion | Virtual Reality | Newport Beach, CA
Nelson Peltz | $1.4 billion | Investments | Bedford, NY
Kelcy Warren | $4.6 billion | Pipelines | Dallas, TX
🔵 DEMOCRAT DONORS
Here are the billionaires and their spouses identified by Forbes who donated to the Democrats’ House Majority PAC from Jan. 1, 2021 through Aug. 31, 2022:
Sam Bankman Fried, cofounder of FTX.Guerin Blask for Forbes
1. Sam Bankman-Fried
2. Jim Simons
Net Worth: $28.1 billion
3. George Marcus
Amount Donated: $2 million
4. Reid Hoffman
Kwaku Alston for Forbes
5. Reed Hastings
Amount Donated: $1.9 million (with wife Patty Quillin)
6. Jon Stryker
7. Connie Ballmer (wife of billionaire Steve Ballmer)
Net Worth: $80.8 billion
8. Stephen Mandel, Jr.
9. Amy Goldman Fowler
Courtesy Thomas Secunda
10. Thomas Secunda
11. Haim Saban
Amount Donated: $500,000 (with wife Cheryl)
12. David Shaw
Jerod Harris/Getty Images
13. Edythe Broad
14. Chris Larsen
15. Henry Laufer
16. Robert Bass
17. Elaine Wynn
METHODOLOGY
Forbes reviewed committee records filed with the Federal Election Commission and counted contributions of $5,000 or more made by billionaires and their spouses.
Note: This article was updated on October 11, 2022 to note that two donations came from billionaires’ spouses; Connie Ballmer made a donation to the Democratic PAC, not her husband Steve Ballmer.
FORBES 400 FEATURES
I write about the world’s richest people and their businesses. I am a CPA and former Big Four financial statement auditor. I graduated from Miami University (OH) with a B.S. and
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