Musk breaks donor record as the ultrarich pour $2.7 billion into the midterms

Elon Musk has cemented his record as the largest individual political donor in modern American history. The world’s richest man poured $446 million of his own money into this year’s midterm elections, mostly aimed at preserving the Republican Party’s control of Congress, recent election filings show.

While Musk and the other largest donors this cycle lean heavily Republican, former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg also sprang onto the scene. Since September, Bloomberg has given $60 million, largely to back House Democrats, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Musk’s spending alleviated the fears of some Republicans who worried the Tesla CEO would not come to their rescue after a dramatic and public feud with President Donald Trump last year. Musk gave at least $355 million to his super PAC and other Republican-aligned groups since the start of July, according to FEC filings this month.

In total, the top donors in American politics have poured in more than $2.7 billion to influence the midterm elections.

Republicans are hoping the influx of cash will help them in the final stretch before November by blanketing the airwaves and deploying more canvassers to voters’ doors. Republican-leaning donors gave $1.7 billion, compared with $832 million from Democratic-leaning givers and $264 million from bipartisan and special-interest groups, such as those backing sports betting and cryptocurrency interests.

Most of the money, regardless of affiliation, was given to super PACs that can legally accept unlimited sums.

Top individual donors

Musk is one of four individual donors who has given more than $100 million to influence the midterm elections. Three of the four mainly back Republican candidates.

In some cases, individual contributors donate to political action committees through companies they own rather than under their own name. For example, billionaire Democratic donor George Soros is the owner of Geosor and the Fund for Policy Reform, which together gave $102 million in the first six months of the cycle.

(Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s wealthiest people, has donated just $15,000 this cycle, all of it to federal committees affiliated with companies Amazon and Blue Origin.)

Top 10 organizations

Individual donors pumped the most money into this cycle, but a variety of groups also weighed in with big donations.

The list includes organizations that are focused on advancing a cause rather than being affiliated with a political party. Among them are the cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple, along with sports gambling companies and the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

It also includes dark money nonprofit groups, which can give enormous sums to super PACs without disclosing their donors.

Top 50 donors