Sludge Report: FEC Filing Day 10/15
Three billionaires pumped $218.8 million into three pro-Trump super PACs in the third quarter.
Yesterday was a major FEC filing day, with thousands of campaigns, joint fundraising committees, and super PACs disclosing their third quarter details. Here’s a quick roundup…
Three billionaire backers of Trump pumped massive sums of money into pro-Trump groups from July to the end of September, according to filings posted yesterday to the Federal Election Commission.
These wealthy donors are helping the former president make up a campaign fundraising deficit with Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic groups:
- Miriam Adelson gave $95 million to her Preserve America PAC in four donations from July through September, bringing her total given to the group to $100 million. The super PAC is spending tens of millions of dollars on anti-Harris attack ads.
- Elon Musk gave $75 million to the America PAC he founded across multiple donations, making up the super PAC’s only donations in the third quarter. Musk’s giving started on July 3, three days after the deadline for the previous FEC reporting period. The group is spending tens of millions on canvassing operations for the Trump campaign, as well as mail, digital ads, and other spending supporting Trump and opposing Harris.
- Richard Uihlein gave $48 million to his Restoration PAC last quarter. The super PAC is spending millions on ads opposing Harris and a couple of other Democratic candidates.
The top pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., has been bankrolled by $125 million from reclusive investor Timothy Mellon, among other donors like billionaire investor Paul Singer and businesswoman Diane Hendricks, and is due to file its next monthly disclosure with the FEC on Oct. 20.
Two of Harris’ joint fundraising committees reported raking in donations in Q3:
- Harris Victory Fund raised a gigantic $633 million, which gets split between the Harris for President campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and dozens of state Democratic party groups. Of that haul, the group transferred out nearly $410 million and spent $109 million on online fundraising. Some top donors who gave more than $920,000 to the group included members of the Pritzker family, Laurene Powell Jobs, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Timothy Draper, and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott.
- Harris Action Fund raised almost $19.4 million, transferring $7 million of that amount to the DNC, the other recipient of this committee along with the Harris for President campaign. Some top donors who gave more than $416,000 to the group included employees of investment firms Lone Pine Capital, Genstar Capital (a member of private equity trade group the American Investment Council), Renaissance Technologies, and Mantle Ridge. Jonathan Gray, president and COO of private equity giant Blackstone, donated $413,000 to the group, as Sludge previously reported. One of Blackstone’s companies is fighting a California ballot measure that would expand rent control while Harris tells rallies she will support measures to “cap unfair rent increases” and support bills in Congress targeting large corporate landlords.
A pair of Trump’s high-dollar joint fundraising committees, Trump National and Trump 47, raised $194.5 million and $145.2 million, respectively. This month, an Associated Press analysis with OpenSecrets found a slowdown in Trump fundraising from his small-donor juggernaut: less than a third of Trump’s contributions came in amounts under $200, compared with nearly half in the 2020 cycle.
Surveying a few other large donations that were made in Q3:
- Conservative Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn donated $16 million to the super PAC Jefferson Rising. The group has spent millions against Democratic senators up for re-election, topped by spending opposing Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin and Jon Tester in Montana.
- Billionaire Republican megadonors uncorking donations to the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the giant super PAC closely tied to Mitch McConnell, included: Citadel hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin ($20 million), hedge fund founder Paul Singer ($10 million), Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman ($9 million), Adelson ($5 million), and Charles Schwab ($3 million).
- Griffin was also the top donor in Q3 to the Keystone Renewal PAC, the top-spending super PAC in the key Pennsylvania race for U.S. Senate, giving an additional $5 million for a total of $15 million. The super PAC, which is backing former Bridgewater hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick, has spent more than $45.3 million in the contest against Democratic incumbent Bob Casey, fueled by millions in donations from billionaires like Jeff Yass, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, and investor Thomas Peterffy.
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