Billionaires are increasingly driving the direction of American politics, deploying their wealth to shape elections and policy agendas.
Whether bankrolling campaigns or powering Super PACs, these deep-pocketed mega donors have become central to both presidential and congressional races.
Here’s a breakdown of the most influential billionaire political contributors and how their donations are influencing the future of U.S. politics.
Timothy Mellon — $165 Million (R)
Retired businessman and Republican mega donor Timothy Mellon has an estimated net worth of $14 billion, mostly from inheriting a share of the Mellon family’s banking empire and sale of Pan Am Railways to CSX Corporation.
Over the past few election cycles, he used part of his fortune to bankroll Political Action Committees that support Trump and Republicans. That includes $125 million in donation to Make America Great Again, Inc.
He interestingly once supported more liberal causes, such as racial equality. However, in his autobiography, he blamed “human behavior” for lack of any meaningful success and described social safety nets as a “slavery redux” meant to buy votes.
So far, Mellon has poured an estimated $165 million into Republican campaigns this election cycle, dwarfing his past election cycle donations of $41.7 million in 2022, $60 million in 2020.
Mellon is also very elusive. Very few pictures of him exist. The above picture is believed to be from 43 years ago — and it one of the only images of Mellon online.
Kenneth C. Griffin — $65 Million (R)
Kenneth C. Griffin is the founder and CEO of Citadel Securities, a Wall Street financial firm. Griffin has an estimated net worth of $36.9 billion. He has donated $2.2 billion to philanthropic causes, including a $300 million donation to Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in early 2023.
He became a mega donor to the Republicans in 2022 and 2024. In 2024, he donated $35 million to two Republican Super PACs: the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund. He has also donated to individual Republican candidate campaigns. All in all, Griffin has funneled approximately $65 million into the 2024 election so far.
Richard & Elizabeth A. Uihlein – $72 Million (R)
Richard A. Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth, made their fortune through Richard’s inheritance (a beer dynasty) and their own company, Uline, which sells packaging materials and industrial supplies.
The Uihleins have supported Republicans since 2009. They have exponentially ramped that support up since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling that lifted independent expenditure restrictions on political campaigns.
In 2020, for instance, they donated $70 million to Super PACs supporting Republicans and Trump.
However, in 2024, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein still donated to Republicans, but seemed split on which Republicans to support. Richard favored far-right politicians and anti-establishment causes favored by movements like the Tea Party, while Elizabeth favored traditional “establishment” Republicans.
As of August 2024, the Uihleins have donated just over $72 million to Republican campaigns or PACs.
Jeffrey S & Janine Yass — $70 Million (R)
Billionaire Jeffery Yass is the founder of Wall Street trading tech firm Susquehanna International Group. He is worth an estimated $27 billion.
As a major investor TikTok parent company ByteDance, Yass’s 2024 political contributions have largely been funneled to politicians who oppose imposing restrictions on the platform. Despite right-wing political stances, Yass directed campaign funds into opposing Trumps election because of his proposals to ban TikTok.
Still, Yass provided Trump with a much-needed cash influx by acquiring a large position in Digital World Acquisition Corp that merged with Trump Media and by extension, Truth Social, earlier this year.
However, after meeting with Yass in 2024, Trump 180’d on his TikTok ban position.
Michael Bloomberg — $37 Million (D)
Unlike the previous billionaires, former New York City mayor and Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg backs Democrats. Bloomberg is the single-largest billionaire donor to the Democratic Party. Bloomberg ran for the Democratic presidential nomination himself in 2020, but lost to President Joe Biden.
So far, Bloomberg has donated $37 million to Democratic campaigns and organizations that support those campaigns.
Robert Bigelow — $30 Million (R)
Hotelier Robert Bigelow pledged $1 million toward Donald Trump’s legal fees and an additional $20 million to a Trump-supporting PAC.
He previously backed Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primaries, but backed away due to DeSantis’s hardline stance on reproductive rights.
Robert Bigelow owns Budget Suites of America and made a brief foray into inflatable space station modules with Bigelow Aerospace.
Benjamin and Felicia Horowitz — $24 Million (Both D. and R.)
Felicia Horowitz, wife of venture capitalist Benjamin Horowitz, founded the Horowitz Family Foundation, which gives grants to organizations that provide social services or advocate for liberal policies.
The couple has known affiliations with prominent celebrities including Oprah and Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles, as well as tech moguls like Mark Zuckerberg.
In recent years, the Horowitzs appear to have 180’d from their previously liberal stances. The Horowitzs’ have publicly endorsed Donald Trump and mostly donated to Republican candidates in the 2024 election cycle. The reason for this pivot in stances is unclear, especially considering the Horowitz’s have had Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at their social events before.
The couple has donated to candidates from both parties this year, however, a majority of these donations went to Republican candidates. OpenSecrets list’s their total campaign donations in the 2024 election as $24 million to date.
Marc Andreessen — $24 Million (D and R)
Like Ben Horowitz, billionaire Marc Andressen is also a co-founder of Andressen-Horowitz (a16z). His history includes co-founding Netscape and launching the Mosaic Internet browser. As an a16z general partner, he sits on the board of directors for several of its portfolio companies, including Coinbase, Applied Intuition, and OpenGov.
Like Ben Horowitz, Andeerssen expressed his intention to back Donald Trump due to concerns about the burden that regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission could place on digital asset firms like Coinbase.
Related: What Campaign Contributions Tell Us About Candidates
