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Campaign finance disclosures are made public too ridiculously slowly to be of much use for real-time political analysis, but they do reveal some general trends in terms of who supports whom, and how rich they are.
I previously reported that, according to Federal Election Commission data through May 1—before Donald Trump’s criminal conviction, Biden’s disastrous debate performance, or Saturday’s assassination attempt—Trump was getting less than one-third of his contributions from small donors (people who gave less than $200), whereas the 100 top donors (all very, very rich) favored Republicans by a margin of 3 to 1.
That hasn’t changed per the latest data, most of which only gets us through May 31—which is still before all of the mayhem mentioned above. With the new numbers, the Top 100 still favor Republican groups and candidates, in dollars given, by a nearly 3-to-1 margin.
One notable difference involved a reshuffling among the Top 5, who have given overwhelmingly to Republicans and their causes. The lead position in the last round was held by billionaire couple Janine and Jeffrey Yass—he’s a cofounder of Susquehanna International Group (an investment firm) and a major TikTok investor. From his contribution history, it’s clear that Yass wasn’t much of a Trump supporter, though Susquehanna owned a stake in the special purpose acquisition company that merged with Trump Media.
The latest (and likely current, though not for long) top donor is a major Trump backer. That’s banking dynasty heir Timothy Mellon—a “reclusive plutocrat,” as independent journalist Judd Legum wrote in his Popular Information Substack, who over the past 12 months has given $25 million to American Values 2024, a Super PAC supporting Robert Kennedy, Jr. and then turned around and donated a whopping $50 million to the Trump Super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. the day after a jury found the former president guilty of 34 felonies.
At last count, the Top 100 had doled out $933.5 million, only 22 percent of which went to solidly Democratic candidates and causes.
In all, this election cycle, Mellon has given more than $115 million to Republicans, including $76.5 million to MAGA Inc. He also, as Legum noted, has donated $4 million to Sentinel Action Fund, a Super PAC created by Heritage Action, a subsidiary of the Heritage Foundation, whose controversial Project 2025 was created as more or less a blueprint for a second Trump term—though Trump, incredibly, claims no knowledge of it.
Moreover, in 2020, Mellon gave $20 million to America First Action, a Super PAC run by America First Inc., a nonprofit that claims in its IRS filings it is “bipartisan,” but listed as its board chair Linda McMahon. That’s the WWE mogul Trump appointed to run his Small Business Administration. Linda and her husband, Vince McMahon, are No. 17 on the Top 100 donors list, giving more than $11 million so far to Republican candidates and causes during the current election cycle. Nonpartisan indeed.
At last count, the Top 100 had doled out a total of $933.5 million to candidates, party committees, and outside groups. Only 22 percent of it went to solidly Democratic candidates and causes, while 64 percent went to solidly Republican candidates and causes.
President Joe Biden’s campaign committee raised a total of about $231 million, of which 42 percent came from small donors giving less than $200. Trump’s campaign committee reported about $196 million in donations, 31 percent from under-$200 donors. The Trump campaign also reported about $193 million from outside groups, while the Biden campaign reported roughly $160 million.
So that’s where we are—or rather, were. So much has changed, so quickly, in this race. Trump’s conviction, for which he showed only contempt, and no remorse, only seemed to boost his status with MAGA die-hards. Meanwhile, ever since that unforgettable June 26 debate, top Democratic donors have been flipping out about Biden, who keeps insisting he’s in for the long haul.
And then came the attempt on Trump’s life, which has energized his already frenetic base, and could fuel his grassroots fundraising efforts.
On Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 20-year-old man fired an AR-15 at the Republican nominee, wounding him slightly, Trump’s campaign was already sending out pleas like the following, which landed in a colleague’s inbox at 2:51 pm ET that day:
I am Donald J. Trump, and I will NEVER SURRENDER!
I will always love you for supporting me.
Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.
