KEY FINDINGS
Just 100 billionaire families poured a record-breaking $2.6 billion into federal elections in 2024, one of every six dollars spent altogether by all candidates, parties and committees.
That’s two-and-a-half times the roughly $1 billion spent by individual billionaire donors in 2020.
Billionaire political spending is up 160-fold since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision allowed for unlimited campaign donations.
The vast bulk of billionaire-family donations went to so-called independent expenditure groups–which thanks to Citizens United can raise unlimited amounts from each donor–rather than directly to candidates or parties, which still work under campaign-contribution limits.
Billionaire spending heavily favored Republicans. Over two-thirds (70%) of billionaire-family contributions went in support of GOP candidates and conservative causes. Less than a quarter (23%) backed Democratic hopefuls and progressive causes. (The remainder went to committees without a clear partisan or ideological identity.)
In the three Senate races that gave Republicans control of the Senate, billionaire giving constituted a huge amount of Republican outside spending: Montana 58.1%, Pennsylvania 56.8%, and Ohio 44.5%.
Almost three-quarters (71%) of the total amount used by outside spending groups to attack the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, came from billionaires. Billionaires supplied over three-fifths (61%) of all the outside dollars spent praising Donald Trump.
While the potential undue influence on government policy of billionaire donors has always been a concern, the second Trump administration has seen a blatant and unprecedented swapping of campaign contributions for political power, most notoriously in the case of Elon Musk.
Musk’s 2024 campaign contributions were four times more than what he paid in annual federal income taxes between 2013 and 2018.
The Trump-Musk attempt to dismantle the federal government and the Republican tax-cutting agenda could potentially save billionaire-family donors trillions of dollars in taxes, turning a huge profit on their 2024 political investment.
SUMMARY
Billionaires continue to drown our democracy with money, with just the top 100 political-donor families pouring a record-busting $2.6 billion into 2024 federal elections–one of every six dollars spent overall. This more than doubled the amount donated by America’s oligarchs in the 2020 presidential election and is a nearly 160-fold increase in billionaire political spending since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United first allowed unlimited campaign donations.
The vast majority of billionaire money supported Republican candidates. The top 100 billionaire-family donors made 70% ($1.84 billion) of their donations to committees that backed GOP candidates, while 23% ($594 million) went to entities backing Democratic candidates. The remaining 7% of billionaire contributions supported independent candidates (principally Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who received $41.8 million), and committees that gave to candidates from both parties who champion particular issues (especially cryptocurrency, which was buoyed by $71.9 million worth of billionaire cash; and the state of Israel, which benefitted from $13.7 million).
Elon Musk was the largest political spender of the 2024 election cycle, contributing over $278 million to Republican candidates—almost all of it in direct support of Donald Trump’s presidential reelection bid. Musk’s contributions alone represent close to 2% of all election spending by candidates, parties, and committees across all federal elections nationwide. His campaign contributions were four times more than what Musk paid in annual federal income taxes between 2013 and 2018. His successful investment in Trump was rewarded with unprecedented federal authority for a private citizen—power he has used to try to further build his dynastic wealth.
The money-fueled political rise of Musk was just the most notorious example of billionaires literally buying power. Wrestling tycoon Linda McMahon was made Secretary of Education–charged with dismantling her department–after she and her husband gave $25 million exclusively in support of GOP candidates. Billionaire investment banker Howard Lutnick was made Commerce Secretary after contributing over $21 million to Republican campaigns.
A relatively small amount of the cash spent by billionaires went directly to candidates (who got $60 million) or parties ($195 million) last year because of federal contribution limits. Billionaires who aspire to oligarch status fully maximize their power through so-called super PACs, which thanks to the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision can raise unlimited amounts from each donor. The tradeoff is intended to be that super-PAC spending is independent of the candidates supported, but that rule against coordination is easily and frequently flouted.
Billionaire-families poured over 80% ($2.14 billion) of their political spending into super PACs (and hybrid PACs, which make independent expenditures along with contributing directly to campaigns).The explosion of billionaire influence in American elections since the emergence of super PACs is evident: the lowest-ranked billionaire family among the top 100 donors spent $5.2 million on the 2024 election—roughly equivalent to what the highest-ranked billionaire contributed in 2008, the last presidential election before Citizens United.
This report is the latest in a series on “billionaires buying elections” that Americans for Tax Fairness launched four years ago. It is the most comprehensive so far in that it covers not only direct billionaire giving, but also traces the indirect routes billionaire cash can take through campaign committees contributing to each other.
