A small group of very wealthy donors supplied a large share of the money behind the 2026 midterms, the most expensive in U.S. history. The 50 largest donors gave about $2.77 billion, according to an Al Jazeera analysis of Federal Election Commission data published Oct. 27. Much of it went to super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions.
The money leaned Republican but came from both sides. Of the top 50 donors’ total, about 60% came from Republican-aligned donors and about 30% from Democratic-aligned donors, with the rest from bipartisan or industry givers, Al Jazeera found. A separate count by Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund, an advocacy group that favors higher taxes on the wealthy, found that billionaire families had given more than $1.7 billion by late August, about 69% of it to support Republicans and 28% to support Democrats. About 81% of that billionaire money went to super PACs.
The biggest individual donors
| Donor | Side | Reported total | Main recipients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | Republican | $446M | America PAC, Senate Leadership Fund (and through it, Texas PAC), Congressional Leadership Fund |
| Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein | Republican | $150M | Restoration of America and other conservative groups |
| Jeff and Janine Yass | Republican | $110M | V-Pac (backing Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio governor), Club for Growth Action, School Freedom Fund |
| George Soros | Democratic | $102M | Democracy PAC, which funded Senate Majority PAC and other Democratic groups |
| Michael Bloomberg | Democratic | $84M | Everytown Victory Fund, House Majority PAC |
| Miriam Adelson | Republican | $66M | Senate Leadership Fund, MAGA Inc., Preserve America PAC |
| Reid Hoffman and Michelle Yee | Democratic | $41M | Lone Star Rising (backing James Talarico), House Majority PAC, Senate Majority PAC |
Musk stands apart. His roughly $446 million was about three times the next-largest donor’s total, and more than the top three Democratic-aligned donors combined.
Tech and crypto: the new megadonors
A newer group of donors from technology and crypto gave heavily this cycle, often personally and through companies they control. Americans for Tax Fairness, which combines family members’ personal gifts with gifts from companies they control, ranked venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz first among billionaire families, at $149 million through late August, including contributions from their firm, Andreessen Horowitz. It also ranked the Winklevoss twins ($72 million) and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen ($66 million) in its top 10. OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, gave $50 million, split evenly between MAGA Inc. and the AI industry super PAC Leading the Future.
Several of these donors overlap with the companies in our look at which corporations gave the most. Whether a gift counts as “individual” or “corporate” often depends only on which account it came from.
How the biggest bets turned out
In a year when Democrats won both chambers, Republican megadonors had a rough night. But as our 2026 scorecard notes, a donor’s candidate losing does not prove the money was wasted, and a win does not prove the money worked.
- Musk: His largest single bet was Texas. His $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund was passed on to Texas PAC, which spent about $181.6 million backing Ken Paxton, according to the AP and CNBC. Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico. His own America PAC put about 93% of its spending into races its candidates lost, according to CNBC.
- Yass: His $30 million to V-Pac backed Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio governor. Ramaswamy lost to Democrat Amy Acton.
- Adelson: Her largest gifts, including $30 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, went to groups whose top Senate targets mostly lost.
- Soros: Democracy PAC funded Senate Majority PAC and other groups backing Democrats who won the Senate majority.
- Bloomberg: His $16 million to House Majority PAC backed Democrats in a year they won the House; he also gave $24 million to Everytown’s political arm, which backs candidates who support stricter gun laws.
- Hoffman: He gave $16.5 million to Lone Star Rising, the main super PAC backing Talarico, who won.
Why the totals don’t match
Different counts of the same donors can differ by tens of millions of dollars. The main reasons:
- Different cutoff dates. Americans for Tax Fairness counted through Aug. 28, while the larger totals above run through mid- or late October. Final figures will come in the post-general FEC reports due Dec. 3.
- Families versus individuals. Some counts combine spouses or relatives; others list each person separately.
- Companies and trusts. Some counts include money given through a company, trust or foundation the donor controls; others count only personal contributions.
- Pledges versus filings. News reports sometimes include amounts a donor has promised, which do not appear in FEC records until they are given.
Some money cannot be counted at all. Gifts routed through nonprofits that do not disclose their donors appear under the nonprofit’s name, so the true total from the wealthiest donors is likely higher than any count shows. We explain how that works in How Super PACs Can Hide Who Is Paying.
Sources
- Al Jazeera: Tracking the money: the biggest donors in the 2026 US midterm elections (Oct. 27, 2026)
- Newsweek: The billionaires who spent, won and lost the most at the midterms (Nov. 4, 2026)
- Daily Caller: Megadonors poured fortunes into midterms. Here’s what bang they got for their buck. (Nov. 4, 2026)
- Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund: Billionaires buying elections, midterm edition (Oct. 7, 2026)
- CNBC: Elon Musk suffers political setback in 2026 midterms (Nov. 4, 2026)
- CNBC: “Pop-up” super PACs spend record sums (Oct. 31, 2026)
- AP via AJC: Musk’s $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and Texas PAC (Oct. 2026)
- Federal Election Commission: Campaign finance data
Published by SuperPACs.com. Figures come from Federal Election Commission filings and the sources listed above. Read about how we work and our editorial standards.