Politics

Charted: Organization Megadonors to the 2024 U.S. Election

Published

6 months ago

October 14, 2024

Julie R. Peasley

Creator Program Ambassador

Article/Editing:

Julia Wendling

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Charted: Organization Megadonors to the 2024 Election

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

As the 2024 election approaches, organizations are pouring millions of dollars in to support their party of choice, or in some cases, bipartisan groups that bolster their industry.

Using data from the Federal Election Commission for the period January 1, 2023 to August 20, 2024, The Washington Post compiled the 50 top organization donors and where they spent their money. This chart maps the top 10.

Megadonors Supporting Bipartisan Groups

Crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple gave the majority of their donations to Fairshake, a super political action committee (PAC) that supports campaigns of crypto-friendly congressional candidates. Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm, also supported Fairshake.

Contributions from these three megadonors totaled $180.1 million.

Megadonors Supporting Partisan Groups

The majority of the donations went to partisan groups.

Donor	Amount (millions)	Group	Party
Coinbase	$91.1	Fairshake	Bipartisan
Coinbase	$1.5	Defend American Jobs	Republican
Coinbase	$1.5	Protect Progress	Democrat
Coinbase	$2.1	Others
Empower Parents PAC	$82.5	Never Back Down Inc.	Republican
Fund for Policy Reform	$60.0	Democracy PAC	Democrat
Future Forward USA Action	$55.9	Future Forward PAC (FF PAC)	Democrat
Ripple Labs	$45.0	Fairshake	Bipartisan
Ripple Labs	$1.5	Defend American Jobs	Republican
Ripple Labs	$1.5	Protect Progress	Democrat
Ripple Labs	$1.0	Others
AH Capital Management	$44.0	Fairshake	Bipartisan
AH Capital Management	$1.5	Protect Progress	Democrat
AH Capital Management	$1.5	Others
AH Capital Management	$1.5	Defend American Jobs	Republican
Koch Industries	$40.0	Americans for Prosperity Action	Republican
Koch Industries	$1.8	Congressional Leadership Fund	Republican
Koch Industries	$1.5	Senate Leadership Fund	Republican
Majority Forward	$15.8	SMP	Democrat
Majority Forward	$12.5	Last Best Place PAC	Democrat
Majority Forward	$4.1	Duty and Country	Democrat
League of Conservation Voters	$27.3	LCV Victory Fund	Democrat
League of Conservation Voters	$0.2	Others
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners	$25.4	Working for Working Americans	Democrat
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners	$1.0	Strategic Victory Fund	Democrat

The largest contributors to Republican organizations include the Empower Parents PAC and Koch Industries. Empower Parents PAC pledged $82.5 million pledge to Never Back Down Inc., a super PAC in support of Ron DeSantis. Koch pledged $43.3 million combined to Americans for Prosperity Action (a PAC committed to broadening economic opportunity), Congressional Leadership Fund, and Senate Leadership Fund.

Conversely, the remaining five of the top 10 megadonors supported Democratic groups. The most significant recipients were Democracy PAC, which received $60.0 million from Fund for Policy Reform, and Future Forward PAC, which received $55.9 million from Future Forward USA Action. Democracy PAC’s main mission is to support pro-democracy candidates. Future Forward is aiming to rebuild America’s middle class.

Ranked: Top 10 Donors of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

In four of the last five U.S. elections, the candidate who raised the most money won.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 11, 2025

Marcus Lu

Bar chart ranking the top 10 Donors of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

Ranked: Top 10 Donors of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

In the most expensive U.S. election to date, billionaire donors played a critical role in shaping the political landscape.
Elon Musk was by far the largest individual donor of the 2024 election, with nearly $300 million contributed to the Republican party.
From the Top 10 donors, eight lean towards Republican.

The Red Wave of 2024

Money plays a powerful role in U.S. presidential campaigns. The more funding a campaign has, the more it can invest in advertising and outreach to connect with voters. In fact, in four of the last five general elections—2016 being the exception—the candidate whose campaign raised the most money won the presidency.

Billionaires overwhelmingly supported Republican candidate Donald Trump in the 2024 election cycle. The top 10 individual donors collectively contributed over $1.2 billion, with only a small fraction going to Democrats.

Elon Musk—now head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with slashing federal spending—led the pack with $291 million in contributions. Trailing him was Timothy Mellon, a reclusive heir to the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family, who contributed nearly $200 million.

Donor	Total Contributions	Lean
Elon Musk	$291,482,587	Republican
Timothy Mellon	$197,047,200	Republican
Miriam Adelson	$148,294,900	Republican
Richard & Elizabeth Uihlein	$143,463,906	Republican
Kenneth Griffin	$108,402,184	Republican
Jeffrey & Janine Yass	$101,128,680	Republican
Paul Singer	$66,800,800	Republican
Michael Bloomberg	$64,339,734	Democrat
Dustin Moskovitz	$50,671,800	Democrat
Marc Andreessen	$42,365,113	Republican

Coming in third was Miriam Adelson, whose fortune stems from the Las Vegas Sands casino empire and a stake in the Dallas Mavericks basketball team.

Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel LLC, donated $108 million. In 2023 alone, Citadel posted annual profits of $8.1 billion, highlighting the immense financial firepower behind its founder.

Of the top 10 donors, eight supported the Republican party, channeling their wealth to conservative super PACs and candidates. Only two—Michael Bloomberg (founder of Bloomberg L.P.) and Dustin Moskovitz (Facebook co-founder)—backed Democrats, contributing about $115 million combined.