Fundraising is to reach their voters. Without the money from these efforts, campaign hopefuls can say goodbye to television ads, staff, and all the trappings that go with elections—and election wins. Most of the funds go toward media advertising to help spread a candidate's message while also countering information from a candidate's competitors. But there are also expenses just to keep grassroots efforts moving, such as payments for pollsters and printing yard signs and posters. These disbursements all add up to millions.
In Nevada, David Duffield, the billionaire entrepreneur behind enterprise software firms PeopleSoft and Workday, to help elect GOP Senate contender Sam Brown. Though not an established donor, FEC records show Duffield and his wife also donated more than $1 million to Trump's campaign in 2020.
At more than $70 million this election cycle, Jeff Yass, an investor in ByteDance, is the second-highest donor to conservative causes and PACs, beating many on the top donors list by more than $11 million. ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has come under fire in the Biden administration because of security concerns. New York Magazine that Yass' support for the Republicans may have influenced Trump's .
At the as of July 22 is Timothy Mellon, who made one of the largest political donations in history ($50 million) the day after Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges in Manhattan. This follows his donations to Make America Great Again Inc. and the American Values super PAC, which supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s now-suspended campaign.
High-net-worth individuals like these might be driven to donate to shape policies that will help their finances, to impact social policies they care about, or simply because they enjoy the power and challenge. "Candidates start agreeing with you," Robert Shapiro . A senior fellow at McDonough School of Business in Georgetown, Shapiro served as undersecretary of commerce under President Bill Clinton. "It's psychic satisfaction for megalomaniacs."
Wealthy individuals account for at least a third of total donations in every state, but in some, the share climbs to half. Donations by wealthy individuals accounted for 52% of total donations in Maryland and North Carolina, 51% in Hawaii, and 50% in Virginia.
Historically, winning candidates . Exceptions include Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's 2020 win against Jaime Harrison in South Carolina, despite huge Democratic fundraising. In his campaign, Graham positioned the race as a choice between "capitalism versus socialism" and "law and order versus chaos." Though Harrison had raised close to $109 million to Graham's $75 million, it was the latter that ultimately won the votes.
As the Graham and Harrison bout shows, correlation isn't causation. that partisan districting and national trends, rather than money alone, have the most influence on election outcomes. Instead of buying elections, donors give to candidates already favored to win.