Yesterday, campaigns and political action committees filed their final disclosures before Election Day with the Federal Election Commission, revealing more huge donations to super PACs backing Donald Trump.
Four megadonors have contributed a combined $459 million this election cycle to super PACs supporting former President Trump’s campaign, according to a Sludge review of FEC data through the latest reporting deadline of Oct. 16.
As the Trump campaign runs at a deficit in direct fundraising compared with Vice President Kamala Harris, the billionaire-funded super PACs are helping to make up for the shortfall by bankrolling ads supporting Trump and attacking Harris, as well as shouldering costs of canvassing operations for the Trump campaign and more.
Trump’s superwealthy donors could see their fortunes balloon if the Republican is elected and makes permanent the provisions in his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as the candidate has promised to do. Earlier this month, the nonpartisan think tank Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that the tax policy changes Trump has floated would create, on average, a tax cut for the richest 5% of Americans and a tax increase for all other income groups. If Trump’s changes are put into effect, the ITEP report analyzed, the top 1% would see an average tax cut of $36,300, while taxes owed would increase for 95% of Americans.
The donors covered below contributed to a group of nine super PACs that have made pro-Trump expenditures and Trump’s fundraising committees. The super PACs included in this analysis are the six largest pro-Trump super PACs on OpenSecrets as of Oct. 17: the flagship Make America Great Again Inc. (MAGA Inc., for short); Preserve America; America PAC; Right for America; Turnout for America; and Duty to America. This tally also includes donations made to three major pro-Trump super PACs spending for Trump this cycle: Restoration PAC; Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Victory Fund; and FC (Future Coalition) PAC.
Here are 20 of the largest donors to pro-Trump outside spending groups.
- Trump’s top backer has been investor Timothy Mellon, the reclusive 82-year-old heir to a billionaire banking family, who has given $150 million to MAGA Inc., the largest Trump super PAC. Mellon’s most recent contribution to the group was $25 million on Sept. 17, after making $50 million donations in May and July.
- Elon Musk has given $118.6 million to the pro-Trump super PAC he formed, America PAC, most recently $43.6 million in donations made from Oct. 4-14. This month’s funding came on top of the $75 million he gave to the group in the third quarter of this year, as the world’s richest man campaigns for Trump in Pennsylvania and draws campaign finance legal scrutiny for practices like his $1 million lottery giveaways to petition signers. This week, the Trump campaign texted its supporters that Musk, whose net worth is around $243 billion according to Forbes, would also be giving the Trump campaign the maximum of nearly $925,000, matching donations from Trump supporters. Musk is reportedly a major donor to the dark money group Building America’s Future, which has funneled more than $20 million to pro-Trump PACs.
- Billionaire pro-Israel donor Miriam Adelson has given at least $105.8 million to Trump super PACs and fundraising committees. She gave $100 million to pro-Trump Preserve America super PAC she helped stand back up this cycle, nearly all of during in the third quarter. In August, Adelson also gave $5 million to the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Victory Fund, a group that’s spent an amount into the eight figures against Harris. Adelson also gave nearly $845,000 to the Trump 47 joint fundraising committee in May.
- Billionaire conservative Richard Uihlein, CEO of packing supplies company Uline, has given more than $84.1 million this cycle to to pro-Trump groups: $76.1 million to the Restoration PAC super PAC that he’s funded for the past decade and is spending on anti-Harris attack ads, as well as $5 million to MAGA Inc. in May and $3 million to the super PAC Preserve America on Oct. 15. The billionaire also donated thousands of dollars to several Trump campaign groups this summer. His wife, conservative megadonor Elizabeth Uihlein, also gave $5 million to MAGA Inc. on the same date in May and donated thousands of dollars to the Trump campaign.
