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These Billionaires Have Spent The Most On the November Midterms

adminAugust 28, 20265 Mins read0

These Billionaires Have Spent The Most On the November Midterms

Topline

The 10 top billionaire donors in the midterm elections alone have already given more than $734 billion, federal election records show, as high-profile billionaires like Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, George Soros and the Winklevoss twins pour millions into federal races.

Elon Musk on May 14 in Beijing.

Key Facts

Billionaires and the companies they control have made up nearly all of the top individual donors this election cycle, based on rankings compiled by The New York Times and Washington Post, with the full list of top donors rounded out by GOP- and Democratic-aligned nonprofits, crypto companies Coinbase and Crypto.com and sports betting site DraftKings.

Marc Andreessen (Forbes Valuation: $1.9 billion): Andreessen, his business partner Ben Horowitz and their venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz have donated a combined $115.3 million this election cycle, as calculated by the Times, while federal election records show Andresseen has personally given some $42.2 million—with the biggest checks going to PACs supporting crypto and AI, along with President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc.

George Soros (Forbes Valuation: $7.5 billion): Soros and his son Alex are the top Democratic givers this election cycle, giving a combined $103.7 million to Democratic-aligned super PACs between the family and groups they control, though the elder Soros has personally only given slightly under $1 million to Democratic candidates and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Jeff Yass (Forbes Valuation: $67.4 billion): Yass, a Trump-aligned billionaire who’s previously advocated for TikTok, has poured $93.8 million into the midterms so far, with the bulk of that cash—$20 million—going to the super PAC supporting fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial bid in Ohio.

Elon Musk (Forbes Valuation: $876 billion): The world’s richest man has given some $90.5 million so far, primarily to his own America PAC, which he’s reportedly authorized to spend up to $120 million on battleground Senate and House races this year.

Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein (Forbes Valuation: $7.7 billion jointly): The Uihleins have long been known as major GOP donors, and are keeping that up this election cycle with a combined $70 million in donations to Republican super PACS, including funds that support judicial races and Wisconsin House candidate Jessi Ebben, who ended up losing her primary race.

Miriam Adelson (Forbes Valuation: $33.8 billion): The wife of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has spent approximately $67.6 million so far, with $25 million going to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC and $40 million supporting House and Senate Republicans.

Chris Larsen (Forbes Valuation: $12.6 billion): The Ripple Labs co-founder and his company have given a combined $65.7 million in the midterms, according to the Times, of which Larsen personally donated $15.2 million; Ripple’s money primarily flowed to the Fairshake super PAC that gives money to crypto-friendly candidates, while Larsen, a longtime Democratic donor, gave generously to pro-clean energy PACs and Democratic candidates, particularly failed New York House candidate Alex Bores.

Paul Singer (Forbes Valuation: $6.7 billion): GOP-aligned donor Singer has given $52.5 million so far, with a $15 million chunk of that money going to STW PAC Inc., a newly formed super PAC that appears to be entirely bankrolled by Singer and has not yet spent any money on midterm races.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Forbes Valuation: $2.9 billion jointly): The Winklevoss twins, who founded crypto exchange Gemini, have routed a combined $42.7 million to midterm races—including $16.1 million each from from Cameron and Tyler personally, plus donations from their Winklevoss Capital firm—with most of that money going toward pro-crypto super PAC Digital Freedom Fund, Trump’s MAGA Inc. and funds supporting Republican candidates.

Ken Griffin (Forbes Valuation: $53.2 billion): The billionaire hedge fund leader has been critical of the Trump administration, but is still strongly backing Republicans in the midterms, giving $32.2 million to PACs backing GOP candidates.

Tangent

OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife Anna are also in the top 20 biggest midterm donors, as compiled by the Times, giving a combined $50 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. and a super PAC supporting AI. While Brockman has described himself in court as a billionaire, Forbes does not have him valued as a billionaire at this point. Billionaire Charles Koch’s Koch Inc. has also given $35 million in the midterms, but Koch himself only gave approximately $17,000 personally to Koch Inc.’s super PAC.

Which Other Billionaires Are Giving Big In The Midterms?

One of the biggest donors to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC this cycle has been billionaire oil tycoon Kelcy Warren, who gave $25 million to the president’s election fund in February 2025, with $12.5 million each coming from himself and his company Energy Transfer LP. Trump’s MAGA Inc. has also received seven-figure checks from the likes of mortgage lender Mat Ishiba and his companies, Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler with husband Jeff Sprecher, among numerous others. Estee Lauder heir Ron Lauder, who reportedly gave Trump the idea to buy Greenland, also gave MAGA Inc. $5 million in March 2025, though he’s now reportedly bowing out of political giving after decades of being a top GOP donor. Super PACs supporting congressional candidates are also attracting billionaires’ attention, with the Senate Leadership Fund backing GOP candidates attracting large donations from billionaires including Schwarzman, Steve Wynn, Jude and Christopher Reyes and Walmart heirs Rob and Jim Walton. Many of the top GOP billionaire donors have also given to the Congressional Leadership Fund that backs House Republicans, along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. On the Democratic side, the Senate Majority PAC has gotten billionaire support this election cycle from the likes of philanthropist Amos Hofstetter, Jr., hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel and real estate broker George Marcus, who also supported the House Majority PAC, along with Connie Ballmer—wife of billionaire Steve Ballmer—Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Other billionaires who have spent heavily this election cycle according to federal filings, donating between $13 million and $26 million, include former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ABC Supply cofounder Diane Hendricks and Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts.

What to Watch for

Political giving is likely to only ramp up as the election draws near, and billionaires could still pour additional millions into top races. The full extent of their spending won’t become clear until federal reports are filed after the election ends.

What We Don’t Know

These figures only include federal election spending, and do not include donations made at the state level. Billionaires have been active in some of those races as well, with Alaska’s ballot measure on ranked-choice voting attracting particular attention from the likes of Musk, Yass, Uihlein, Republican megadonor Timothy Mellon and Hilcorp cofounder Jefferey Hildebrand. Billionaires have also been spending heavily to defeat California’s one-time wealth tax on the state’s billionaires, with major opponents including Alphabet cofounder Sergey Brin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, investor Peter Thiel and Stripe cofounder Patrick Collison. Gubernatorial races are also drawing attention, with donations like Bloomberg giving to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Griffin backing Florida candidate Byron Donalds—while Pritzker, whose net worth Forbes values at $4.2 billion, is bankrolling his own reelection bid.

What Is Trump’s MAGA Inc. Spending Money On?

Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC has assembled a $400 million war chest mostly from wealthy donors, with the Brennan Center for Justice reporting in February that 96% of its funds came from donations of $1 million or more. How all that money will be spent, however, is still largely unclear: The PAC has spent little of its funding so far, though it did back Darline Graham in her primary race, and Politico reported last month that Republican candidates have been getting antsy over the PAC not doling out its cash or giving a strong indication of how it plans to. Trump said last week he planned to spend “a lot” of the money his PAC had raised, telling reporters on Aug. 21, “I’ll be spending a lot of that money for candidates that I think are good, Republican candidates.” The Atlantic reported Tuesday the president also wants to spend a large chunk of the PAC’s funds on an advertising “blitz” touting his own record as president, however, with ads that will reportedly “focus on nationalizing the midterms broadly around his victories.”