Several billionaires and wealthy executives have invested heavily in the 2022 midterm elections, pushing tens of millions of dollars to both Republican and Democratic candidates and PACs. Big money donors, many of whom have made their fortunes in technology and finance, have fueled a record-setting avalanche of political campaign donations. In total, $9.3 billion is expected to be spent on the 2022 federal election, shattering the previous inflation-adjusted record of $7.1 billion set in 2018, according to a conservative estimate by the website OpenSecrets, which analyzes political data expenses. “We’re seeing a lot more money, more candidates and more political divisions than we did in 2018,” Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of Open Secrets, said in September. “Spending has been rising throughout the midterm cycle, fueling a polarization vortex that shows no signs of slowing.” Big spenders accounted for about 43% of all political contributions during the 2021-2022 cycle compared to 20% raised by small dollar donors, the next largest category. PACs have provided 8% of the money raised. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS PUSH FINAL MID-TERM ELECTIONS: WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A GREAT NIGHT President Biden speaks on the economy on October 21st. Democrats are facing significant losses in the Senate, House and state legislatures nationwide as the midterm elections approach. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images/Getty Images) The biggest contributor in the current cycle has been George Soros, a prolific billionaire liberal donor who made his fortune in the financial sector and chairs his investment firm Soros Fund Management. Soros has funneled more than $128 million to exclusively Democratic candidates and left-wing organizations since the cycle began. Most of the money came in a single contribution of $125 million in September 2021 to Democracy PAC, a liberal super PAC he created in 2019, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. The super PAC has been affiliated with Democratic Party PACs and PACs associated with a variety of left-wing causes such as racial justice and abortion. FEC filings showed that Soros has also recently made top donations to Democratic candidates in swing state races, including Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Cheri Beasley in North Carolina and Mandela Barnes, who is running to unseat Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. Soros has also given millions of dollars directly to the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties. TWITTER CEO ELON MUSK ANALYZES ELECTORAL INTEGRITY, CONTENT TRANSFORMATION ON PLATFORM THROUGH 2022 In addition to Soros, Reid Hoffman, who founded LinkedIn and is a partner at Greylock Partners. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, billionaire investor Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Tom Steyer, founder of the hedge fund Farallon Capital Management and 2020 Democratic candidate for President. Fred Eychaner, the founder of the media company Newsweb Corporation. and Stephen Mandel, the founder of the hedge fund Lone Pine Capital, have infused leftist campaigns with cash. Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, and Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and founder of Bloomberg, who is running for president in 2020 as a Democrat, have each donated more than $5 million exclusively to Democrats . George Soros delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum on January 23, 2020 in Davos, Switzerland. Soros has funneled more than $128 million to Democrats during this election cycle. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images) On the Republican side, billionaires Kenneth Griffin, founder of marketing giant Citadel Securities, and Richard Uihlein, founder of shipping and business supplies company Uline, have poured more than tens of millions of dollars each into conservative campaigns and organizations. Griffin has pumped about $57.6 million into Republican political causes during the 2021-2022 cycle, according to FEC filings. His largest contributions have landed in the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC that aims to elect Republicans to the House. He has given $25 million to CLF since 2021. Griffin has also donated to GOP groups the Senate Leadership Fund, the Rick Scott Victory Fund and the National Republican Senate Committee. It has given to individual Republican candidates including Sen. Johnson, Sen. Tim Scott, RSC, Herschel Walker, who is running for Senate in Georgia, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. BIDEN ‘EXCUSED’ BY IGNORING INFLATION, CRIME IN CAPITOL HILL SPEECH, GOP SAYS And Uihlein and his wife, with whom he co-founded Uline in 1980, have pushed another $57.1 million to Republican candidates and PACs during the current cycle, according to FEC filings. Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2. Griffin has donated more than $57 million to Republicans. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images) Additionally, Nike CEO Phil Knight. Peter Thiel, of Thiel Capital. Jeff Yass, the CEO of Susquehanna International Group. Steve Wynn, of Wynn Resorts and Valmore Management. Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of investment firm Blackstone Group. and Paul Singer, chairman of Elliott Investment Management, have contributed millions of dollars of their own cash to help elect Republican candidates nationally. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP While Knight has not been a major Republican donor in past elections, he gave $1 million to Oregon Republican candidate Christine Drazan last month, Willamette Week reported. The billionaire businessman had previously endorsed Independent candidate Betsy Johnson, but switched to Drazan as he is more likely to defeat Democratic candidate Tina Kotek, a former far-left state representative. “One of the political cartoons after our legislative session had a person snort cocaine from a mountain of white,” Knight recently told reporters, according to the New York Times. “He said, ‘Which one of these is illegal in Oregon?’ And the answer was the plastic straw.” Thiel has donated $30.7 million to Republican candidates and groups, the majority of which landed with PACs supporting Senate candidates Blake Masters of Arizona and JD Vance of Ohio.
