Sheldon Adelson—the chief executive officer (CEO) of Las Vegas Sands and the presidential
election’s top Republican donor, to both super PACs and campaigns—pledged $25 million to a pro-Donald Trump PAC on Monday, an amount five times his planned donation in support of the candidate.
The billionaire, who endorsed the Republican candidate at the tail end of the party’s primary in May, has given $42.7 million to conservative PACs and about $3.8 million to Republican candidates and their campaigns. The recipient of his latest gift, Future 45, recently deployed a political ad comparing Trump’s opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, to the scandal-mired former Republican president Richard Nixon, calling her “a secretive, paranoid politician.”
But Adelson is hardly alone in funding efforts to sway voters. He is, however, among a small group of individuals giving outsize amounts to both parties and candidates this election season.
The top 100 individual donors to super PACs, according to OpenSecrets, represent less than 1 percent of individual PAC donors, but nearly two-thirds of all money given to the organizations.
Below is a list of the top donors to Republican and Democratic campaigns and candidates ranked by their total amounts given, courtesy of OpenSecrets.
Top 10 Republican Donors – $186.5 million
1. Sheldon Adelson - $47.4 million The casino magnate has a net worth of $31.7 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 19th richest person in the world.
2. Robert Mercer - $23.5 million The CEO of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies was the Republican presidential primary’s biggest donor early this year, and has invested in conservative think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, as well as publications, like Breitbart.
3. Paul Singer - $23 million Another hedge fund manager, Singer joked in June that, because he wasn’t satisfied with the two viable presidential candidates, he might write himself in or not vote altogether. While 99 percent of his fund Elliot Management’s campaign donations have gone to Republicans, none of the money has supported Trump, who Singer said would trigger a global recession if elected.
4. Richard and Liz Uihlein - $21.5 million The Midwestern shipping company magnates use their wealth mainly to conservative causes in the Midwest, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. In August, Trump’s campaign named Liz Uihlein as a potential economic policy advisor.
5. Joe Ricketts - $14 million The founder and former CEO of Omaha, Nebraska-based TD Ameritrade is also a major funder of wildlife conservation efforts.
6. Ken Griffin - $13.6 million Illinois’ wealthiest man with a net worth of $7.5 billion, the CEO of Citadel has remained a part of the anti-Trump movement while contributing to conservative causes.
7. Warren Stephens - $13.2 million The billionaire investor, who gave up on the newspaper industry before joining a Little Rock-based investment bank started by his uncle, has spent millions in the effort to prevent Trump’s nomination.
8. Ron Cameron - $12.1 million The grandson of Mountaire Corp. founder Guy Cameron, who is now the Little Rock-based company’s CEO, is a major Trump donor.
9. Diane Hendricks - $9.6 million Like Liz Uihlein, the co-founder and chair of ABC Supply, who has a net worth of $3.7 billion, was named as a possible future economic advisor to Trump.
10. Bernie Marcus - $8.6 million The Home Depot founder, once a supporter of former Republican primary candidate Jeb Bush, wrote in RealClearPolitics that he has decided to back Trump “because the fate of this nation depends upon sending him, and not Hillary Clinton, to the White House.”
Top 10 Democratic Donors - $259.4 million
1. Thomas Steyer - $67.3 million The billionaire environmentalist and former hedge fund manager announced his support of Clinton in June, despite having long-standing ties to the Clinton family.
2. Donald Sussman - $39.1 million Another hedge fund manager, Sussman poured the majority of his donations into pro-Clinton PAC Priorities USA and has described himself as motivated by the need “to leave my children a better country.”
3. Fred Eychaner - $34.3 million The owner of Midwest media conglomerate Newsweb Corp., Eychaner started his career as a journalist and has been a major funder of Democratic campaigns since 1990.
4. Michael Bloomberg - $20.1 million The billionaire CEO and founder of Bloomberg L.P. and former mayor of New York City disparaged Trump when announcing his support for Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in July. He is the eighth richest man in the world, with a net worth of $42.5 billion, according to Forbes.
5. James Simons - $19.7 million The hedge fund manager, who has a net worth of $16.5 billion, founded the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, which may sound familiar, as it is run by the second-largest donor of Republican campaign efforts.
6. George Soros - $ 19.5 million A supporter of refugees and the Black Lives Matter movement, the hedge fund manager has given $3 million to a PAC seeking to mobilize Hispanic voters.
7. Jennifer Pritzker - $19.5 million Formerly James Pritzker, the CEO of Tawani Enterprises isthe world’s only transgender billionaire.
8. Dustin Moskovitz - $17.3 million The 32-year-old co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard University dorm before dropping out of school and co-founding workflow software company Asana.
9. Haim Saban - $13.5 million The chair of Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications was born in Egypt to Jewish parents. He has called a possible Trump victory “disastrous” for Israel.
10. Marsha and Henry Laufer - $9.1 million Henry Laufer had served as the Vice President of Research at investment management firm Renaissance Technologies, founded by Democratic donor Simon and led by Republican donor Mercer. The couple has given generously to Priorities USA and Women Vote!
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