The billionaires behind the most expensive midterm elections in history

By: Amanda L. Gordon, Biz Carson, Bill Allison, Bloomberg News

Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News

The billionaire founder of market maker Susquehanna International Group, Jeff Yass, has made frequent moves during this election season and has already donated more than $80 million to midterm election candidates and related political causes.

According to figures compiled by Bloomberg News, the size of this donation ranks third among individual donors in this election cycle, behind only George Soros and Elon Musk. Soros and Musk’s donations mainly go to their respective super PACs, while Jeff Yass is one of the largest donors to Trump’s MAGA Inc. and also directly funds a wide range of beneficiary organizations.

His giving covers key causes he prioritizes—such as a $15 million contribution to the School Freedom Fund advocating for school choice—as well as multiple political candidates, including a $20 million contribution to a federal political action committee supporting Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

His donations also extend to some more niche political causes, including a $675k contribution to Aurora Action Network, an organization focused on abolishing Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system—a state far from Jeff Yass’s hometown of Pennsylvania. Jeff Yass himself has not responded to media requests for comment.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Jeff Yass’s net worth is $83.8 billion. And analyses of current major donors indicate that he is only one of the participants in this midterm election that is the most expensive in history.

Bloomberg analysis notes that in this election cycle, federal political committees have raised more than $4.7 billion from individuals, corporations, anonymous funding groups, and other organizations—an amount that does not yet include donations at the state and local levels. AdImpact, a political advertising research firm, estimates that spending on political ads alone will reach $10.8 billion, an increase of more than 20% compared with 2022.

Major business tycoons moving into U.S. politics

Top individual donors to the 2026 federal election cycle (by total amount)

For now, most of the large sums are flowing into the coffers of the Republican camp: the Republican Party, super PACs affiliated with both the Senate and the House, and Trump’s political committees and MAGA Inc., which together raised $917 million in the first quarter of this year.

That figure is 3.5 times the combined total raised by the Democratic National Committee and its Senate and House committees, as well as super PACs, which raised $262 million. However, when it comes to overall campaign fundraising, the Democratic nominee camp’s fundraising still surpasses that of its Republican rivals.

All of the above are only publicly traceable political contributions. The so-called “dark money”—political donations routed through nonprofit organizations that do not disclose the source of funds—has been taking an increasing share of political giving in recent elections, and this trend is expected to continue into 2026.

At the core of this battle for capital is the fight for control of Congress and the final policy direction of President Trump’s last two years in office. But for super-rich donors willing to write large checks, there are equally pressing, personal issues at stake to be negotiated and contested: whether California will implement a billionaire tax, what regulatory rules the artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency industries will face, and the final landscape of state-level and local elections.

In the past four months, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has invested more than $60 million in California, mainly to oppose a proposed wealth tax bill. Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, has also spent millions to resist the billionaire tax proposal and has donated to organizations trying to influence California politics; his company has also contributed $48.5 million to the pro-cryptocurrency political action committee Fairshake.

JB Pritzker, Governor of Illinois and a potential 2028 presidential contender, donated $10 million to a political action committee to back his lieutenant governor Juliana Stratton’s campaign. Stratton has already secured the Democratic nomination for the state Senate seat.

From May to June, a number of important intra-party primaries are set to take place, including the Senate race involving Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, and a highly competitive California gubernatorial election. The peak phase of campaign fundraising has not arrived yet.

Some top funders from past elections still remain low-profile; as Election Day on November 3 approaches, new wealthy individuals are expected to join the ranks of top donors.

For example, Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel, was a major donor core in the 2018 and 2022 elections, yet has stayed discreet throughout this midterm cycle. His current donations mainly support Florida state-level political committees backing Republicans, where he moved his family residence and business operations four years ago.

Below is a list of the wealthiest individuals who have donated the most to federal political committees so far in this midterm election cycle. None of the people on the list have responded to media interviews or have directly declined to comment.

Top Donors: Details

George Soros

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $102.6 million

Main recipients: $102 million to Democracy PAC; $26.55k to Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $25k to Democratic House Campaign Committee.

Impact analysis: The 95-year-old Soros has long been involved in political activity and funding progressive causes, building his strategy through his foundations, political action committees, and affiliated nonprofit organizations aligned with the Democratic and liberal camp. His Democracy PAC is run by his son Alex, with funds flowing to the Working Families Party and progressive candidates in local prosecutor elections; his fully funded 501©(4) organization, Fund for Policy Reform, has also put $10 million into California district redistricting battles.

Elon Musk

Illustration: 731; Source: Bloomberg

Total donations: $84.8 million

Main recipients: $50 million to America PAC; $10 million to Fight for Kentucky PAC; $10 million each to Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund.

Impact analysis: The Tesla and SpaceX co-founder is throwing his full support behind Trump’s second-term camp. Even though his relationship with the president has occasionally been strained, he still intends to continue a deep involvement in politics. He is known for an independent style, putting most of his money into America PAC, which he founded himself, while also making large donations to mainstream political action committees that support Republicans competing for seats in the Senate and House. One of the main drivers for Musk’s continued push into politics is backing allies such as JD Vance to challenge for the 2028 presidential race. As a first step, he helped fund Nate Morris’s campaign for the Senate seat held by Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell in the Republican primary—though Morris withdrew from the race last week.

Jeff Yass

Illustration: 731; Photographer: Eddie Malek

Total donations: $81.8 million

Main recipients: $20 million to V-PAC supporting Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; $16 million to MAGA Inc.; $15 million to School Freedom Fund.

Impact analysis: The founder of trading firm Susquehanna International Group is among the largest individual patrons of MAGA Inc., Trump’s core fundraising platform. Jeff Yass’s business interests closely align with the president’s policy agenda: last year, Trump halted plans to ban TikTok in the U.S., and Jeff Yass and his affiliated entities hold shares in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. At age 67, he prefers to publicly emphasize that his main funding supports political action committees and candidates backing school choice. In an interview with The Washington Post, he said, “I’ve found an effective way to help millions of children escape difficult circumstances.”

Greg Brockman & Anna Brockman

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $50 million total ($25 million each)

Main recipients: $25 million to Leading the Future; $25 million to MAGA Inc.

Impact analysis: OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and his wife Anna are core donors to Trump’s super PAC, and they also contribute to the Leading the Future PAC, which focuses on artificial intelligence issues. Last November, Trump invited the Brockmans to a dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At age 38, Greg Brockman plans to increase support for Leading the Future this year. He said that shifting public opinion toward candidates favoring AI development is already a key move tied to the future of humanity.

Richard Uihlein

Total donations: $45.3 million

Main recipients: $39.6 million to Restoration of America PAC; $4 million to Fair Courts America; $1 million to Northwoods Future PAC, which is backing Michael Alfonso—son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy—for a Wisconsin state House seat.

Impact analysis: At age 80, Richard Uihlein is the heir to the Schlitz beer family fortune and a hardline conservative. He is also co-founder of office supply company Uline. He is the main funder of Restoration of America PAC, which focuses on election integrity, strengthening the defense forces, anti-abortion policies, and backing conservative candidates for political office. He also argues for easing regulations on the long-haul trucking industry, saying existing rules place an excessive burden on the freight industry.

Marc Andreessen

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $44.7 million

Main recipients: $25 million to Leading the Future; $11.9 million to Fairshake; $6 million to MAGA Inc.

Impact analysis: Marc Andreessen, 54, has previously been a donor who hedged across both parties; in 2008 he supported Barack Obama. In July 2024, due to disagreements with Joe Biden over cryptocurrency and AI regulation, he publicly stated his support for Trump. This Silicon Valley venture capitalist frequently talks with Trump by phone and participates in the formulation of federal-level technology policy. In addition to his personal donations supporting Trump’s campaign, his affiliated entities also fund two major super PACs: Fairshake, focused on cryptocurrency, and Leading the Future, focused on artificial intelligence.

Ben Horowitz

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $44.4 million

Main recipients: $25 million to Leading the Future; $11.9 million to Fairshake; $6 million to MAGA Inc.

Impact analysis: During the 2024 presidential election, Ben Horowitz and his partner Marc Andreessen backed Trump by endorsing him on technology policy stances, adopting a dual-pronged approach. He has generally leaned toward the Democratic camp and also supported Kamala Harris as a candidate based on personal friendship. Since then, at age 59, Ben Horowitz’s donations have become more focused on specific issues. In this election cycle, most of the funds have gone to political action committees related to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency; he has provided millions of dollars to MAGA Inc. and has also made six-figure donations to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC.

Miriam Adelson

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $42.6 million

Main recipients: $30 million to Senate Leadership Fund; $10 million to Congressional Leadership Fund; $1 million to Security is Strength PAC supporting South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Impact analysis: The 80-year-old Israeli-American physician Miriam Adelson has long been a steadfast supporter of Trump alongside her late husband Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate. In 2024 alone, Miriam Adelson personally donated $95 million. The couple has also deeply influenced the Trump administration’s policy toward Israel—for example, pushing for the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Paul Singer

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $33.92 million

Main recipients: $14.5 million to Senate Leadership Fund; $8 million to Congressional Leadership Fund; $2.5 million to United Democracy Project, affiliated with AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying organization.

Impact analysis: This hardline asset management executive initially did not view Trump favorably. In the 2024 Republican primaries, he supported Nikki Haley before later shifting toward aligning with Trump’s second-term camp—especially in terms of supporting the government’s backing of Israel, its hardline stance toward Iran, and moves to crack down on anti-Semitism on college campuses. At age 81, Paul Singer has also injected funds into multiple key House districts’ political action committees, including efforts by two large organizations working together to try to oust Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, who angered Trump for supporting the release of publicly related Jeffrey Epstein files and for voting against aid to Israel in 2023.

Diane Hendricks

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total donations: $25.79 million

Main recipients: $25 million to MAGA Inc.; $413k to Republican National Committee; $182k to Defend Our Majority, supporting Republican House candidates.

Impact analysis: The 79-year-old Diane Hendricks is Wisconsin’s richest person and a conservative donor who co-founded ABC Supply, a building materials distributor. She has long donated to Republican candidates. In 2016, she supported then-Governor Scott Walker’s presidential bid, and later shifted to back Trump. During Trump’s first term, she was appointed to the National Economic Council. This year, she also attended the Winter Olympics closing ceremony as part of a presidential delegation.

Research Methodology

Bloomberg News compiled records filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission, counting donations of $10k or more from individuals and organizations to political parties and political action committees between January 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.

Donor names were standardized. The scope includes individuals, corporations, anonymous funding groups, industry associations, unions, state-level political committees, and U.S. Indian tribal organizations. If joint fundraising committees split donations and attribute them to individual members, they are counted according to official figures.

Large institutional donations were also cross-checked to trace the actual individuals providing the funds. To avoid double counting, internal transfers from joint fundraising committees to beneficiary organizations were excluded.