The billionaires behind the most expensive midterm elections in history

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

Translation: Saoirse, Foresight News

The billionaire founder of market maker Susquehanna International Group, Jeff Yass, has been actively involved in this election season, donating over $80 million to midterm election candidates and related political causes.

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

His donations cover key areas he supports—donating $15 million to the School Freedom Fund advocating school choice, and also supporting several political candidates, including a $20 million contribution to a federal PAC backing Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

His contributions also extend to some more niche political causes, including a $675k donation to Aurora Action Network, an organization dedicated to abolishing Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, despite Alaska being far from Jeff Yass’s home state of Pennsylvania. Jeff Yass has not responded to media requests for comment.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Jeff Yass’s net worth is $83.8 billion. An analysis of current major donors shows he is just one of the highest-spending participants in this record-breaking midterm election.

Bloomberg’s analysis indicates that during this election cycle, federal PACs have raised over $4.7 billion from individuals, corporations, anonymous funds, and other organizations, not including state and local donations. The political advertising research firm AdImpact estimates that spending on political ads alone will reach $10.8 billion, an increase of over 20% compared to 2022.

Major Business Tycoons Entering U.S. Politics

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

Currently, most large sums are flowing into the Republican camp: the Republican Party, Senate and House related super PACs, and Trump’s political committees and MAGA Inc. raised a combined $917 million in the first quarter of this year.

This amount is 3.5 times the combined total of the Democratic National Committee, its Senate and House committees, and super PACs, which raised $262 million. However, overall campaign fundraising still favors the Democratic side.

This only accounts for publicly traceable political donations. The so-called “dark money”—donations funneled through nonprofit organizations that do not disclose sources—has been increasing in recent election cycles and is expected to continue rising in 2026.

At the core of this capital contest is the battle for control of Congress and the shaping of policies for President Trump’s final two years in office. But for super-rich donors, equally pressing issues are also at stake: whether California will implement a billionaire tax, what regulations will be introduced for AI and cryptocurrency industries, and the final landscape of state and local elections.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has invested over $60 million in California in the past four months, mainly opposing the proposed wealth tax. Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has also spent millions to oppose the billionaire tax proposal and has donated to organizations trying to influence California politics; his company has also donated $48.5 million to the pro-cryptocurrency PAC Fairshake.

Illinois Governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate JB Pritzker donated $10 million to a political action committee to support his lieutenant governor Juliana Stratton’s campaign, who has secured the Democratic nomination for the state senate seat.

Several important primaries are scheduled from May to June, including the Kentucky Senate race involving Mitch McConnell and a competitive California gubernatorial election, with the peak fundraising phase yet to come.

Some top donors from previous elections remain low-profile, but as Election Day on November 3 approaches, new billionaires are expected to join the ranks of top donors.

For example, hedge fund founder Ken Griffin, who was a key donor in the 2018 and 2022 elections, has remained low-profile during this midterm cycle. His current donations mainly support Republican state-level committees in Florida, where he moved his family residence and business operations four years ago.

Below is a list of the wealthiest donors to federal PACs during this election cycle so far. All individuals listed have not responded to media inquiries or have outright refused to comment.

Top Donors Details

George Soros

Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total Donations: $102.6 million

Main Recipients: $102 million to Democracy PAC; $26,550 to Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $25,000 to Democratic House Campaign Committee.

Impact Analysis: 95-year-old Soros has long been active in politics and funding progressive causes, through his foundation, political action committees, and affiliated nonprofit organizations aligned with the Democratic and liberal camps. His Democracy PAC, operated by his son Alex, funds progressive candidates in worker-family districts and local prosecutor races; his fully funded 501©(4) organization, Fund for Policy Reform, also invested $10 million in California 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: Tesla and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk strongly supports Trump’s second term, despite occasional friction with the president, and plans to continue deep involvement in politics. He operates independently, primarily donating to his own America PAC, while also making large contributions to mainstream political action committees supporting Republican candidates for Congress. The 54-year-old Musk’s motivation to stay engaged is partly to support allies like JD Vance in the 2028 presidential race. As a first step, he helped fund Nate Morris’s campaign for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky, although Morris withdrew last week.

Jeff Yass

Illustration: 731; Photographer: Eddie Maluck

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: Founder of Susquehanna International Group, a trading firm, Jeff Yass is one of the largest individual funders of Trump’s core fundraising platform, MAGA Inc. His business interests align closely with Trump’s policy agenda: last year, Trump halted plans to ban TikTok in the U.S., and Yass’s firm holds shares in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. The 67-year-old prefers to emphasize his support for school choice PACs and candidates. In an interview with The Washington Post, he stated, “I’ve found an effective way to help millions of children escape difficult circumstances.”

Greg Brockman & Anna Brockman

Photograph Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total Donations: $50 million (each $25 million)

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 key donors to Trump’s super PAC, and also contribute to Leading the Future PAC, which focuses on AI issues. Last November, Trump invited the Brockmans to a dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 38-year-old Greg Brockman plans to increase support for Leading the Future this year, believing that backing candidates favorable to AI development is crucial for humanity’s future.

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 supports Wisconsin State Assembly candidate Michael Alfonso, son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Impact Analysis: 80-year-old Richard Uihlein, heir to the Schlitz beer family fortune and a conservative hardliner, is also co-founder of office supplies company Uline. He is a major funder of Restoration of America PAC, which focuses on election integrity, strengthening the military, anti-abortion policies, and supporting conservative candidates. He advocates loosening regulations on the trucking industry, arguing current rules burden freight companies excessively.

Marc Andreessen

Photograph 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: 54-year-old Marc Andreessen has historically been a bipartisan donor, supporting Barack Obama in 2008. In July 2024, due to disagreements with Joe Biden over AI and cryptocurrency regulation, he publicly endorsed Trump. The Silicon Valley venture capitalist frequently communicates with Trump and participates in federal tech policy development. Besides his personal donations supporting Trump’s campaign in 2024, his organization funds two major super PACs: Fairshake, focused on cryptocurrency, and Leading the Future, focused on AI.

Ben Horowitz

Photograph 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 partner Marc Andreessen supported Trump’s candidacy due to their stance on tech policy, adopting a dual approach. Usually leaning Democratic, Horowitz has previously supported Kamala Harris out of personal friendship. Since then, at age 59, his donations have focused more on specific issues, with most funds this cycle flowing to AI and cryptocurrency-related political action committees, along with millions to MAGA Inc. and six-figure contributions to Senate Leadership Fund PAC.

Miriam Adelson

Photograph 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: 80-year-old Israeli-American doctor Miriam Adelson and her late husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, have been staunch supporters of Trump, with Miriam personally donating $95 million in 2024. The couple has also heavily influenced U.S. policy toward Israel, including advocating for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Paul Singer

Photograph Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total Donations: $33.9 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 pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

Impact Analysis: This radical asset manager initially did not favor Trump, supporting Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican primaries, but later aligned with Trump’s second-term camp, especially supporting U.S. aid to Israel, a tough stance on Iran, and efforts to combat anti-Semitism on campuses. The 81-year-old Paul Singer also contributed to key House districts, including efforts to oust Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, who supported the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents and voted against aid measures in 2023, drawing Trump’s disapproval.

Diane Hendricks

Photograph Illustration: 731; Source: Getty Images

Total Donations: $25.8 million

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

Impact Analysis: 79-year-old Diane Hendricks, Wisconsin’s wealthiest person and co-founder of building materials distributor ABC Supply, is a longtime conservative donor supporting Republican candidates. In 2016, she supported then-Governor Scott Walker’s presidential bid, later backing Trump. During Trump’s first term, she was appointed to the National Economic Council. Recently, she attended the Winter Olympics closing ceremony as a presidential delegation member.

Research Methodology Note

Bloomberg News compiled Federal Election Commission records, tracking individual and organizational donations of $10k or more to parties and political action committees from January 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

Donor names were standardized; the scope includes individuals, corporations, anonymous groups, industry associations, unions, state-level political committees, and Native American tribes. If joint fundraising committees split contributions among members, data reflects official attribution.

Also verified large institutional donations, tracing back to actual individual funders. To avoid double counting, internal transfers from joint fundraising committees to recipient organizations were excluded.