Most individuals can be glad with a number of palatial properties, huge yachts, and being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of artwork. Billionaires count on extra. Their newest spending spree has been centered on politicians. Simply 100 billionaire households poured a file $2.6 billion into U.S. federal elections in 2024, accounting for about one among each six {dollars} spent through the election cycle.
Naturally, this spending is about electing individuals who will implement legal guidelines and insurance policies that favor them. However what are they hoping to get in return? And the way does this have an effect on America’s democracy?
Key Takeaways
- The $2.6 billion invested by 100 billionaire households within the 2024 elections was double the quantity billionaire donors contributed in 2020.
- The highest 100 super-PAC donors (0.02% of all donors) accounted for 73% of all super-PAC cash.
- So-called “darkish cash” spending on the 2024 election totaled $1.9 billion.
What Billionaires Get for Their Cash
Billionaires spend huge quantities of cash in politics for a cause: affect. Like most donors, they’re seeking to sway elections within the hopes that their candidates will enact legal guidelines and insurance policies that favor them. Within the case of billionaires, the main target is normally on tax insurance policies and rules on companies.
Critics like People for Tax Equity argue that tax breaks for the ultrawealthy are sometimes a direct results of political spending.
The Case of Elon Musk
Even in an American marketing campaign system awash in billionaire money, there’s by no means been something fairly like Elon Musk’s case. After the 2024 election, Musk was given unprecedented particular person energy to reshape the U.S. authorities.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) and SpaceX, Musk was the one greatest contributor through the 2024 elections, writing checks for $291 million in assist of Donald Trump and different Republican candidates. As soon as Trump was in workplace, Musk was tasked by Trump to create and management the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, which slashed spending and carried out widespread layoffs throughout the federal forms, beginning with companies lengthy focused by Republicans.
Necessary
The majority of billionaire cash flows by tremendous political motion committees and impartial expenditure teams, which may settle for limitless donations, in contrast to direct candidate or celebration contributions which can be topic to federal limits.
Musk’s crew additionally focused companies chargeable for regulating his companies. Nonetheless, the alliance between Trump and his greatest supporter has spectacularly collapsed. In July 2025, Musk introduced he was forming a brand new political celebration referred to as the “America Celebration,” citing his opposition to Trump’s sweeping tax cuts laws, which he referred to as “insane.” The transfer is a dramatic break from the president who as soon as elevated him to unprecedented energy.
The general public feud has uncovered the delicate nature of relationships between billionaire donors and the politicians they assist—and the potential penalties when these relationships bitter.
Focus and Affect
The Supreme Court docket’s Residents United resolution in 2010 opened the floodgates for spending on U.S. elections.
Listed here are some further particulars:
- Billionaire giving is very concentrated: the highest 10 billionaire households alone donated virtually half of all billionaire political contributions.
- This spending is a minor expense for the ultrawealthy; the $2.6 billion donated represents simply 0.07% of the collective wealth of the highest 150 billionaire households, or about $140 for the median American family.
The Impression of Billionaire Spending on Democracy
The rising focus of political energy among the many superrich has prompted considerations throughout the political spectrum about democratic illustration. Political scientists and governance specialists warn that when a small variety of ultrawealthy households can outspend hundreds of thousands of peculiar voters, it essentially alters how elected officers prioritize coverage choices. The extra money billionaires pump into politics, and the extra unheard peculiar voters really feel, the extra folks lose religion in democracy itself.
Practically two-thirds of voters in a dozen rich democracies informed the Journal of Democracy in 2024 that democracy wasn’t working. These considerations are more likely to develop as billionaires are transferring from spending to affect elections to taking political workplace themselves, considerably altering the composition of presidency. Trump’s cupboard is a living proof, with multimillionaires wanting like paupers subsequent to the numerous billionaires among the many president’s appointees.
Backside Line
Billionaires are investing unprecedented sums to affect U.S. elections, with just some dozen households holding huge affect on the outcomes. As this cash floods the political system, it not solely concentrates energy within the fingers of some, however critics concern that it undermines democracy itself.
