The securities and investment industry has been the top donor to the Trump campaign and its super PACs, according to OpenSecrets.
Donors from the securities and investment industry contributed a total of $193.8 million to the Trump campaign and outside spending groups supporting him, more than any other industry in OpenSecrets’ analysis, which covers donations disclosed to the Federal Election Commission as of Sept. 22. More donations to presidential candidates, and seven-figure sums given to their super PACs, will be reported to the FEC in the weeks ahead.
If elected in November, Trump is promising to extend his signature 2017 tax law that disproportionately benefits the wealthiest taxpayers—including many of the big donors from the securities and investment industry.
Donations from the securities and investment industry made up three in ten dollars raised by pro-Trump groups this cycle. In OpenSecrets’ categorization, the industry includes hedge funds and private equity firms as well as cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase. The OpenSecrets tally includes donors to the Trump campaign, leadership PAC, and pro-Trump super PACs MAGA Inc., America PAC, Right for America, and more.
The industry has given more than 3.2 times as much to the Trump groups as it has given to groups backing Kamala Harris, according to OpenSecrets. The industry backed Vice President Harris with $59.9 million, though the top pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward has received tens of millions of dollars through “dark money” conduits so it’s possible that there is more money from the securities and investment industry backing her.
The largest pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., received a $21 million haul from investment industry donors in August, according to its monthly FEC filing, making up the vast majority of its contributions that month: $10 million from billionaire Diane Hendricks, $5 million apiece from Wall Street titan Howard Lutnick and hedge fund founder Paul Singer, and $1 million from investment bank megadonor Warren Stephens. The super PAC spent tens of millions in September on TV ads, direct mail, and digital ads supporting Trump and opposing Harris.
At high-dollar fundraisers, Trump has told donors he would extend the Republican-passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) he signed in December 2017, a measure that failed to increase earnings for the bottom 90% of workers or reduce the federal deficit as had been advertised. Earlier this year, Trump pledged to make his tax law “permanent.”
