By Theodore Schleifer and Matt Zdun Produced by Leo Dominguez Aug. 28, 2026
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There are the big donors to American elections, and then there are the biggest donors — the ones that can turn around candidates’ fortunes and sometimes even write history.
These are the billionaires who tower over Senate and House races. The corporations digging deep to increase their profits. The dark-money groups that want to keep their sources of cash secret forever.
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The 20 biggest donors so far in the midterm elections — some of whom are grouped together because of close familial or business relationships — have combined to shovel a staggering $1.2 billion into federal races this cycle, according to a New York Times analysis of the latest contribution data available.
The lineup shows the rising power of the tech industry and is dominated by Republican-leaning donors, reflecting how the party has steadily built an advantage in midterm money. That edge could keep the party competitive despite a political environment that favors Democrats.
Here’s a look at the top midterm donors:
DONOR DONATIONS
Marc Andreessen
and Ben Horowitz
$115.3 million
REPUBLICAN
The founders of the Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz, along with the firm itself, are aiming to shape regulations on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.
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George and
Alex Soros
$103.7 million
DEMOCRAT
The father-and-son pair are still the biggest fish in the Democratic money world, using their super PACs to back left-leaning groups.
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Jeff Yass
$93.8 million
REPUBLICAN
The hedge fund investor is a longtime Republican donor driven primarily by his school-choice agenda. But he has also pushed for lower taxes and to shape regulations of TikTok, one of his firm's investments.
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Elon Musk
$90.5 million
REPUBLICAN
The world’s richest man may just be getting started. He is said to have authorized his super PAC to spend at least $100 million more to help Republicans in the midterm elections.
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One Nation
$75.7 million
REPUBLICAN
This is the nonprofit arm of the Senate Leadership Fund, the flagship super PAC for Republican Senate candidates. The group is currently set to air about $134 million worth of midterm ads to help the G.O.P.
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Richard and
Elizabeth Uihlein
$70 million
REPUBLICAN
These husband-and-wife Midwestern industrialists are longtime Republican donors who have a particular interest in politics in Wisconsin and Illinois.
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Miriam Adelson
$67.6 million
REPUBLICAN
The widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has comfortably kept pace with the giving of her late husband, using her fortune to support President Trump and pro-Israel causes.
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Ripple Labs and
Chris Larsen
$65.7 million
SPECIAL INTEREST
The crypto company and its co-founder shot out of a cannon in this year's midterms, becoming one of the biggest financial players in crypto regulation, climate advocacy, A.I. regulation and California politics.
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Majority Forward
$63 million
DEMOCRAT
This is the nonprofit arm of Senate Majority PAC, the flagship super PAC for Democratic Senate candidates. The group is currently set to air about $33 million worth of pro-Democratic policy ads in the midterms.
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Coinbase
$55.2 million
SPECIAL INTEREST
The motivations of the crypto company and its founders are obvious: Like Ripple, they want to push for a more pliant Congress when it comes to regulation of crypto.
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Paul Singer
$52.5 million
REPUBLICAN
A longtime Republican fund-raiser, the hedge fund billionaire is staunchly pro-Israel and socially moderate.
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Greg and Anna
Brockman
$50 million
REPUBLICAN
The OpenAI co-founder and his wife, who have a lot of money at stake in the artificial intelligence revolution, have said they are motivated solely by American competitiveness on A.I.
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House Majority Forward
$45.2 million
DEMOCRAT
This is the nonprofit arm of House Majority PAC, the flagship super PAC for House candidates. The group is currently set to air about $34 million worth of pro-Democratic ads in the midterms.
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American Action Network
$44.3 million
REPUBLICAN
This is the nonprofit arm of the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for House Republican candidates. The group is currently set to air about $45 million worth of pro-Republican midterm ads.
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Cameron and
Tyler Winklevoss
$42.7 million
REPUBLICAN
You may remember them from "The Social Network," in which the towering twins squabbled with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook. Now, they’re major crypto players who are trying to guide policy for the industry.
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Crypto.com
$38.6 million
REPUBLICAN
The Trump administration has showered the crypto industry with love, and this crypto company has returned the favor to Trump’s super PAC. It is the super PAC's single largest donor.
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American Prosperity Alliance
$36.3 million
REPUBLICAN
This is a relatively new conservative nonprofit group that has funded many of the super PACs that have meddled in Democratic congressional primaries.
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Koch Inc.
$35 million
REPUBLICAN
The company, along with its co-chief executive Charles Koch, have long tried to push the country in a more libertarian direction. But they're out of favor in Trump's Republican Party.
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DraftKings
$34.8 million
SPECIAL INTEREST
The sports-betting company is, of course, focused on expanding sports betting in as many states as possible.
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Ken Griffin
$32.2 million
REPUBLICAN
One of Wall Street’s most voluble Trump skeptics nevertheless wants to defend Republican control of the Senate.
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Broadly, these midterm donors fit into a few buckets. Some are motivated by the goals of their industry, others are driven by long-held ideological beliefs and some have chosen to keep their identities a mystery.
Here’s a breakdown of who these donors are and why they’re spending so much on politics:
The Crypto Crowd
Pushing for wider adoption of digital currency
DONOR DONATIONS
Ripple Labs and
Chris Larsen
$65.7 million
SPECIAL INTEREST
Coinbase
$55.2 million
SPECIAL INTEREST
Cameron and
Tyler Winklevoss
$42.7 million
REPUBLICAN
Crypto.com
$38.6 million
REPUBLICAN
The crypto industry has grown only more emboldened since the 2024 election, when it helped return President Trump and Republicans to power.
Mr. Trump has embraced the crypto industry — raking in vast sums and raising concerns about corruption — and it has embraced him right back. The billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who are major crypto players, are all over Trump world. Separately, the company that operates Crypto.com has been both a business partner of Mr. Trump’s media company and the single largest donor to the president’s super PAC, to which it has given $35 million.
The industry is working hard to elect a more pro-crypto Congress. At the center of that effort is Fairshake, a bipartisan super PAC whose three principal funders all made this list. Two of them, the crypto firms Ripple and Coinbase, have deep pockets, and know that the eventual return on their political investment could be, and perhaps already is, enormous.
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The Technology Team
A rising hub of political power in Silicon Valley
DONOR DONATIONS
Marc Andreessen
and Ben Horowitz
$115.3 million
REPUBLICAN
Elon Musk
$90.5 million
REPUBLICAN
Greg and Anna
Brockman
$50 million
REPUBLICAN
DraftKings
$34.8 million
SPECIAL INTEREST
The third big funder of Fairshake, the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has some wider ambitions.
The firm, together with its eponymous founders and their spouses, is the biggest donor this election cycle. The Andreessen executives are part of a group of tech megadonors driven by a broad desire to deregulate the American economy, particularly when it comes to crypto and artificial intelligence. The firm, along with the OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna Brockman, are key donors behind Leading the Future, a super PAC focused on electing politicians who are friendly to the A.I. industry. The Brockmans are expected to donate another $25 million to Leading the Future this year.
Many tech megadonors are broadly aligned with Mr. Trump. But probably none are more active than Elon Musk, who is running his own super PAC that is said to be planning to spend at least$100 million more to help elect Republicans in November. Mr. Musk’s goals go beyond just shaping tech policy, and he donated $15 million to back two candidates in Ohio and Kentucky who resonated with him personally.
The sports betting company DraftKings has the narrowest ambitions. It joined rivals like FanDuel and Fanatics to support a new super PAC focused on expanding legalized sports betting across the country.
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The Nonprofit Nation
Fueling a surge in dark money
DONOR DONATIONS
One Nation
$75.7 million
REPUBLICAN
Majority Forward
$63 million
DEMOCRAT
House Majority Forward
$45.2 million
DEMOCRAT
American Action Network
$44.3 million
REPUBLICAN
American Prosperity Alliance
$36.3 million
REPUBLICAN
Good luck finding out who contributed this $265 million.
That’s how much came from five dark-money groups, or nonprofit organizations that are not required to disclose their donors. Now more than ever, major super PACs lean on money from these nonprofit groups. In fact, in each instance, the nonprofit is led by the same people who lead the allied super PACs.
Democrats transfer money from Majority Forward and House Majority Forward, two dark-money nonprofits, to their main super PACs focused on Senate and House races. And Republicans transfer money from the American Action Network and One Nation, two other dark-money nonprofits, to their own congressional super PACs.
Another conservative dark-money nonprofit, the American Prosperity Alliance, has fueled a super PAC that has become the primary meddler in Democratic primaries. That super PAC, Conservative Americans PAC, has sought to help Republicans in battleground races by elevating Democrats seen as less competitive.
Beyond their donations, these dark-money nonprofits have also spent hundreds of millions of dollars on “policy” ads that praise or attack people who happen to be up for election.
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The Party Stalwarts
Megadonors who keep coming back
DONOR DONATIONS
George and
Alex Soros
$103.7 million
DEMOCRAT
Jeff Yass
$93.8 million
REPUBLICAN
Richard and
Elizabeth Uihlein
$70 million
REPUBLICAN
Miriam Adelson
$67.6 million
REPUBLICAN
Paul Singer
$52.5 million
REPUBLICAN
Koch Inc.
$35 million
REPUBLICAN
Ken Griffin
$32.2 million
REPUBLICAN
Election after election, certain billionaires sit atop the leaderboards of political givers. They are plugged-in partisans, and ambitious candidates hug them closely because they always seem willing to throw more money at up-and-comers.
Take the conservative megadonor Miriam Adelson. She is already being courted by possible 2028 presidential candidates, even though Mr. Trump has joked that she offered him $250 million to run for an unconstitutional third term. What is not a joke is that Adelson is a huge donor to Trump’s super PAC.
Two major Republican donors — Ken Griffin and Paul Singer — tend to back the same types of socially moderate and fiscally conservative candidates who are hawkish on foreign policy. They are also reliable supporters of the groups yoked to Republican leaders in the House and Senate.
Others are a bit more libertarian and iconoclastic in their political disposition, including Jeff Yass, the Uihleins, and Charles Koch's company, Koch Inc.
Two donors stand out on this list: The Soroses. That’s because they’re the only longtime Democratic megadonors. Ultrawealthy liberals are now gravitating toward dark-money nonprofits, and Alex and George are two of the few who remain comfortable in the public eye. But they are also the only donors on this list whom Mr. Trump has pushed to investigate for their giving.
About the Data
The Times analyzed Federal Election Commission contributions from individuals and organizations from Nov. 5, 2024, through July 31, 2026, the latest date for which contribution data is available. Some committees file only quarterly; their latest available data goes through June 30, 2026.
The Times grouped together partners in businesses that made large contributions, as well as spouses, children and siblings. The Times also grouped organizations with individuals if the person founded or co-founded the organization and currently holds an active leadership role.
The Times labeled donors as “Democrat” or “Republican” if they contributed at least $10 million to political committees affiliated with those parties.
The Times excluded loans, contributions that candidates made to themselves, contributions from PACs and contributions that donors made to their own corporation PACs. The Times also excluded contributions that were made during this time period but were designated for a different election cycle. The analysis does not include contributions to state-level political efforts or other groups not registered with the F.E.C., such as the small number of federal contributions to so-called 527 organizations, which are instead registered with the Internal Revenue Service.
For in-kind contributions, The Times used the dollar value reported by the filer. For contributions made in cryptocurrency, The Times used the dollar value when the contribution was initially recorded and excluded any subsequent records of liquidation.
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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/08/28/us/politics/billionaire-midterms-donors.html?smid=url-share