The top 20 billionaires influencing American politics - WaPo

[In It to Win It]

WaPo - Gift Link

In the past decade, billionaires have been more empowered than ever before to spend money to influence American elections.

The 20 most prolific donors on the Forbes billionaires list have collectively given nearly $5 billion between 2015 and 2024, spending on everything from state ballot measures to congressional elections and presidential races. Some have concentrated on supporting issues of interest. Finance billionaire Jeff Yass has poured millions into supporting pro-school-choice candidates in his home state of Pennsylvania and across the country.

While some billionaires have given similar amounts to both parties, the most prolific donors gave almost exclusively to one party. In federal races, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman gave just under 90 percent of his total donations to Democrats and liberal committees; all the other top 20 donors were even more lopsided. Nobody gave over $5 million to both Republicans and Democrats.

The Post’s analysis was confined to billionaires identified by Forbes, so some prolific donors, such as conservative investor Tim Mellon, who donated $197 million to influence federal elections last year, are absent from the count.

While the super-rich give massive sums of money, their political giving is often not a major expenditure given their massive net worths. The top donor, Miriam Adelson (along with her late husband, Sheldon), gave about $658 million to influence elections between 2015 and 2024. At a net worth of $32.1 billion, that represents about 2 percent of her current net worth. For a typical American family, worth about $191,000, that would be like giving $390 a year to political candidates. Elon Musk gave $294 million in 2024 alone, comparable to a typical family spending about $160.

We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.

We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave .1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.

washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

— ence morse (@ence.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T14:56:37.611Z

The partisan divide has grown, too. The wealthiest 100 tended to give more to Republicans than to Democrats before last year. But giving to the GOP spiked in 2024, with *84%* of donations going to back Republicans or conservative PACs.

— ence morse (@ence.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T14:56:58.303Z

[Buns_of_Fire]

1. Archive link:

https://archive.ph/Xr950

[Ranting Randy]

9. Thanks

[Buns_of_Fire]

13. You're welcome. As sincerely appreciated as all gift links are (thank you), the nice thing

about the Archive is that it doesn't require any registration.

[moondust]

2. Plutocracy or bust!

Welcome to the new Gilded Age of "materialistic excesses marked by widespread political corruption"!

I'm surprised the Little Piggy hasn't installed a Golden Calf in the White House. Maybe that will go in the gilded new ballroom.

[Coventina]

3. Still waiting to find that Death Note......

I swear I'll get my hands on one if I just keep my eyes open......

[blm]

4. They are the terrorists.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. Putin is a big one. It doesn't just take the form of campaign donations.

[jfz9580m]

6. Reid Hoffman and Mark Cuban are cancers on the left.nt

[fujiyamasan]

7. Would you rather they not give any money to democrats?

[jfz9580m]

14. Maybe take the money without bending to their will

They seem demanding..and their demands are bound to be distinctly at odds with the rest of the base with good reason..
Most progressives would probably agree with this. That philosophy I associate with Si Valley I.e. Californian Ideology dressed up as hyper woke (thereby creating a confusingly false image of what progressivism is) is thankfully on the wane:

https://newrepublic.com/article/187156/mark-cuban-harris-working-class

[Buddyzbuddy]

8. No Jeff Bezos?

[betsuni]

10. Why the both-sides-corrupt attack on Democrats is BS.

[JHB]

11. Running some numbers:

Just from values listed in this article. As it notes, it doesn't cover everybody.

Total net worth of Dem donors listed: $B 173.4
Total net worth of Rep donors listed: $B 580.5

So listed Rep donors have 3.3 times the net worth of listed Dem donors.

Percent of respective net worths tied to one guy:
Dems: 60.6% (Bloomberg)
Reps: 58.9% (Musk)

Total Fed race donations (in $M):
Dems: 1512
Reps: 2440

Rep donations 60% more than Dem donations at Fed level.

Total State race donations (in $M):
Dems: 368.1
Reps: 494.3

Rep donations 34% more than Dem donations at State level.

[Deminpenn]

12. Just as in the 1920s, the popular

resentment against the very wealthy is growing.