Billionaire Families Have Already Pumped $433 Million Into Political Campaigns

On the eve of the next “No Kings” nationwide demonstrations, modern day royalty–America’s billionaires–are continuing their efforts to buy political power, according to a new report released today by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF). The study reveals that the 50 highest-spending billionaire families had as of March 1 contributed over $433 million to midterm political campaigns, 80% of it supporting Republican candidates or conservative issue groups. 

“The American people reject kings, political or financial,” said David Kass, ATF’s executive director. “Whether it’s an out-of-control chief executive in the White House or a billionaire wielding his huge fortune to influence elections, anti-democratic behavior is anathema to the American public. As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence from the British monarchy, it’s more important than ever that we reform our campaign-finance and tax laws so that no billionaire can purchase a crown.”

Breakdown of Billionaire Political Spending By Party

Source: Americans for Tax Fairness analysis of FEC data extracted 3/1/2026

The top seven contributors donated almost half the total, or $211 million, all but a tiny fraction in support of Republican or conservative candidates. The single largest contributor is Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who has donated almost $71 million; followed by Jeff Yass, a Wall Street financier, who has contributed more than $55 million. Musk wound up contributing a total of $278 million in the 2024 election cycle and Yass, $102 million. 

Of the top 15 highest spending billionaire families, 12 gave nearly exclusively to Republicans while just 3 gave nearly exclusively to Democrats.  More than a few of these billionaire political donors have direct ties to convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein including: Musk, private equity giant Marc Rowan, cosmetics tycoon Ronald Lauder, and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.  

TOP 15 BILLIONAIRE-FAMILY ELECTION SPENDERS

Source: Americans for Tax Fairness analysis of FEC data extracted 3/1/2026

Campaign finance laws limit the amount contributors can give directly to a candidate or party, so these huge sums are mostly being funnelled through so-called outside spending groups, or super political action committees (PACs). While such spending is supposed to be independent of the campaign being supported, rules against coordination go largely unenforced. 

Midterm elections such as the current one typically draw less campaign spending than presidential contests. So while billionaire families contributed $2.6 billion in 2024, the more useful comparison is to 2022, when billionaire donations topped a billion dollars for the first time. Given how early it is in the process, and how contributions tend to accelerate closer to Election Day, this year will almost surely set a new record for billionaire participation in midterm elections.  

Among the biggest beneficiaries of billionaire cash were: MAGA Inc., which supports Donald Trump’s favored candidates; America PAC, which supports Musk-favored candidates; the Senate Leadership Fund, which supports Republican candidates for U.S. Senate; and its House counterpart, the Congressional Leadership Fund. 

TOP 15 BILLIONAIRE-BACKED PACS

Source: Americans for Tax Fairness analysis of FEC data extracted 3/1/2026

Republicans and conservatives receive the lion’s share of billionaire financial support because it is the nation’s right-wing that works to ensure the wealthiest families get to keep and expand their fortunes, such as through the GOP tax-and-spending law enacted last year. Some progressive Democrats on the other hand, want to make the billionaire class pay a fairer share of taxes, as most recently demonstrated by the 5% billionaire wealth tax proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA); the ultra-wealth tax proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA); and the Billionaires Income Tax, proposed by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, along with Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Don Beyer (D-VA).

THE MUSK FAMILY

Elon Musk once again tops the list of billionaire donors after he successfully spent hundreds of millions to get Trump and Republicans elected in 2024. This bet has paid off massively with his net worth growing 220% since that win, so he is doubling down. This infusion of cash to Republicans comes after his short but very destructive stint as head of the “Department of Government Efficiency” where he helped place his cronies into high level positions throughout the federal government.

THE YASS FAMILY

The biggest recipient of the family of Wall Street money manager Jeffrey Yass is MAGA, Inc., a super PAC dedicated to supporting candidates backed by President Trump, which got $16 million. The Yass donations came as Trump was deciding whether to delay the forced sale of the social media app TikTok, in which Yass was a major investor.  Trump repeatedly delayed the sale, saving the Yass family’s lucrative investment.  Receiving $10 million a piece were the militantly anti-tax-fairness Club for Growth PAC; a PAC that wants to drain funds from public schools to support private ones; and a PAC that supports the political ambitions of former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami. The PAC dedicated to supporting members and aspirants to membership in the radical-right House of Representatives Freedom Caucus collected $7.5 million from the Yass family.

THE BROCKMAN FAMILY

Newcomers to the billionaire political influence peddling games are San Francisco AI tech moguls Greg Brockman and his wife Anna. The Brockmans gave Trump’s Super PAC MAGA Inc. $25 million this cycle, a contribution undoubtedly connected to their massive lobbying efforts aimed at dismantling state-level AI regulations through federal preemptive action. As president of OpenAI, Greg Brockman recently agreed to deploy his company’s technology on the Pentagon’s classified networks, a contract his competitor Anthropic publicly refused over concerns about mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.

THE UIHLEIN FAMILY

Packaging titans Dick and Liz Uihlein have been major donors to right-wing candidates and causes in several recent elections cycles. Among the beneficiaries of their largesse have been figures who deny Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The biggest recipients in this cycle so far are two super PACs for the which the Uihlens are the principal backers: Restoration of America, which supports conservative political candidates (over $5 million); and Fair Courts America, which the Uihleins founded to support conservative candidates for judicial office ($3.5 million).

THE SCHWARZMAN FAMILY

Private equity giant Stephen Schwarzman has been a long time Republican party mega-donnor. Through his time as CEO of Blackstone, Schwarzman has built a career on a foundation of predatory business practices and a disregard for the public good, all while leveraging his immense wealth to rig the system in his favor. Schwarzman has spread his cash around this cycle: $5 million for Trump’s MAGA Inc, $5 million for the Senate Leadership Fund, $1 million for the Congressional Leadership Fund, and $1 million to a Super PAC exclusively backing Senate Whip John Cornyn (R-TX).

CRYPTO KINGS:

On top of the flood of billionaire money being spent to influence the outcome of elections, the crypto industry is pouring tens of millions of dollars into primary races so they get the members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, that favor their industry. Fairshake, the crypto industry’s primary Super PAC, has already raised $133 million for the 2026 election cycle, of which only a fraction has been spent as of this writing. The vast majority of Fairshake’s funding comes from two billionaire-backed corporations, Ripple and Coinbase, which have already contributed $48 million and $75 million, respectively.

We have already seen the pernicious influence of crypto money in our government. Last year the Trump administration dropped 13 SEC charges against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange; its billionaire founder, Changpeng Zhao, was given a pardon by President Trump. The President’s fondness for cryptocurrency is well known. In fact, his family is getting in on the action: the United Arab Emirates royal family secretly signed a deal to pay $500 million to buy a 49% stake in the Trump family crypto startup.

With the federal executive branch seemingly fully captured by crypto interests, the industry has now set its sights on Congress where they are pushing for radical deregulation and new tax loopholes. Senators and Congressman who are willing to play ball with crypto presumably will benefit from the largesse of the well funded super PAC Fairshake.

While the Crypto Kings seem to be on the march in most races, in a small bit of good news their preferred candidate for Illinois’s open U.S. Senate seat–Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi–lost to Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, even after Fairshake spent $20 million on Krishnamoorthi’s behalf.

ATF’s newest report is the latest in a series begun five years ago to chronicle the growing influence of billionaires over our democracy.