Follow the latest updates on the Harris and Trump campaigns.
In presidential fund-raising these days, the donors who matter most are the very small and the very, very big.
The very small are the lifeblood of campaigns, cultivated via email after email, and hounded for recurring donations.
But the very, very big can make contributions that eclipse a million small-dollar donors.
The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, when combined with their super PACs, have raised $1.3 billion, and that’s not counting money raised by dark-money organizations that are active in the presidential race and don’t disclose their donors. The final two months of the election typically see donors write some of the biggest checks of the campaign season. So we’re just getting started.
Here’s a look at the billionaires that are powering the campaigns.
Trump’s most important donors
Mr. Trump has not added many new megadonors to his fold since his 2020 campaign. He himself has not traveled to many fund-raising events across the country — a point of frustration for some of his fund-raisers who sometimes have to travel to Mr. Trump’s own properties to get access to the candidate. Some traditional Republican donors who are uncomfortable with Mr. Trump are focusing their energies on down-ballot campaigns.
But Mr. Trump has, since 2016, transformed the Republican contributor class, developing a network of peculiar big donors loyal to him.
Tim Mellon
There is no donor who has publicly spent more for Mr. Trump this cycle than Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune. He has put more than $125 million into Mr. Trump’s campaign — and it’s only September.
Mr. Mellon, a reclusive businessman, burst onto the political donor scene seemingly out of nowhere. And while he has almost no relationship with Mr. Trump, he has financed much of MAGA Inc., a super PAC, providing almost half of the total money it has raised this cycle.
Mr. Mellon is also a friend of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s and put $25 million into a pro-Kennedy super PAC, becoming this cycle’s largest disclosed donor.
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