US Elections 2024: Donald Trump's presidential campaign is thriving ahead of the US Presidential Elections, backed by large donations from Elon Musk and other investors.
Sudeshna Ghoshal
Updated16 Oct 2024
With less than a month remaining for the US Elections 2024, Republican nominee Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns are in full swing. From million-dollar donations by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Silicon Valley venture capitalists to ‘creative accounting strategies’ and television ads, the former US President's accounts ahead of the presidential polls reveal an intricate network.
Mint brings to you a look at who paid how many millions.
$75 million from Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Donald Trump’s biggest endorsee, Elon Musk, donated $75 million( ₹555 crore) to pro-Trump America political action committee (PAC) over a period of three months, reported Reuters. Founded by the Tesla CEO, America PAC received the highest donation compared to other pro-Trump groups.
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$ 30 million from ex-Marvel Chairman, tech CEOs
Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of the Andreessen Horowitz company in Silicon Valley each donated $2.5 million to Right for America PAC, stated a Bloomberg report citing the latest filings by the Federal Election Commission. Andreessen also gave an additional $844,600 — the federal limit — to Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party, marking a total donation of over ₹21 crore.
In addition, the Right for America’s biggest backers, Isaac Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, and their wife, Laura Perlmutter, contributed $25 million. According to a Bloomberg report, Apollo Global Management LLC CEO Marc Rowan also gave $1 million.
$72 million in swing states
Right for America and America PAC are both pro-Trump super PACs that focus most of their spending in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. According to Bloomberg, America PAC spent around $72 million in the swing states during July-September 2024.
Only 11 people on payroll
As millions of donations pour in for Donald Trump, the Republican’s accounting strategies also call for a close watch. As of August 2024, Trump had only 11 people on his campaign committee. This fraction is less than 25 per cent compared to the 200 people Trump had in 2020.
The few numbers on the payroll are because Donald Trump is shuffling costs from his campaign committee to other accounts allied or shared with the Republican Party. Such a shuffle enables him to funnel millions of dollars into television ads, which would otherwise have been locked up in party and fund-raising accounts, reported the New York Times.
$19 million for two television ads
The Trump campaign has spent more than $19 million on two television ads that have aired nearly 55,000 times since Oct. 1, stated a report by CBS News, citing data from AdImpact. Make America Great Again Inc., the leading super PAC supporting Trump, has spent over $1.1 million during the same time period on a similar ad that was aired more than 6,000 times, stated the report.
Story by Al Root
• 1d • BARRONS/DOW JONES
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is giving a lot of money to help re-elect former President Donald Trump. That raises one issue Tesla investors hate to consider: Where is he getting the money?
Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk donated $75 million to a Trump political action committee in the third quarter, citing federal filings.
Musk’s support for Trump isn’t new. And investors knew Musk planned to contribute millions. Still, money is being spent and the numbers are getting larger.
Musk is the world’s richest person, according to Forbes, worth some $250 billion, but he doesn’t actually generate much cash flow. He doesn’t take an annual salary at Tesla. Most of his wealth is in stock of his companies. Tesla stock accounts for roughly 60% of Forbes wealth figure.
Tesla is also the only publicly traded company in what Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas describes as the Musk-onomy, which also includes X, xAI, and SpaceX. That raises the risk of selling Tesla stock to fund his expenditures.
Investors don’t like stock sales from any corporate insiders, let alone Musk. It can be an omen of bad things to come. That reason doesn’t appear to be the case with Musk’s historical stock sales. But his sales have been surprises, generating needless stock volatility and questions about how much he would sell and when he would be done. (No one likes to buy stock ahead of large sales that push prices down.)
Fortunately, that isn’t likely. Musk sold Tesla stock to help him buy Twitter, which is now X, but that purchase was measured in the billions. There is an easier way for Musk to raise cash.
It’s relatively simple for Musk to borrow against his Tesla fortune. Excluding options, he has roughly 411 million shares worth about $90 billion. Bankers are typically willing to advance cash when the loan is secured with an ample amount of stock.
At the end of March, Musk had pledged about 238 million shares of his Tesla stock as collateral, according to company reports. That gives him access to about $12 billion in loans.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request about Musk’s current collateral and lending.
It’s difficult to know exactly how Musk chooses to generate and spend money. For now, investors have to be content that he has enough without needing to liquidate any of his core Tesla holdings.
The news about Musk’s donation didn’t hit shares. Tesla stock added 0.8% Wednesday, closing at $221.33 while the S&P 500 added 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
David Wright, Fredreka Schouten, Matt Holt and Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN
Wed, October 16, 2024
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks as former President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024.
Some of the world’s wealthiest figures – led by conservative donor Miriam Adelson and tech billionaire Elon Musk – have funneled tens of millions of dollars into political groups in recent months to boost Donald Trump’s White House bid, new reports filed Tuesday with federal regulators show.
Musk, the world’s richest person, gave nearly $75 million to a pro-Trump super PAC that he helped form over the summer – a massive cash infusion aimed at helping turn out voters in key battleground states. Adelson, a staunch Trump backer and heir to a casino fortune, gave even more, plowing $95 million into another outside group backing the former president, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission covering the three months ended September 30.
Altogether, just three billionaires – Musk, Adelson and Midwestern packaging magnate Richard Uihlein – donated roughly $220 million in a three-month period to groups backing the Republican’s candidacy.
Their staggering donations underscore the crucial role that a handful of billionaire megadonors are playing in Trump’s efforts to edge past his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, as their race has intensified.
Harris has set a blistering pace – raising $1 billion since she became the Democratic standard-bearer in late July – a milestone achieved faster than any other presidential contender. And Tuesday’s filings show that a high-dollar fundraising committee that channels money to her campaign and aligned Democratic committees, took in $633 million during the third quarter – four times the amount raised by Trump’s equivalent fundraising arm in that time.
But Harris’ team has implored her supporters to send in even more – highlighting both the billionaire backing for Trump’s candidacy and her campaign’s scramble to reach the still-undecided voters in battleground states that her aides hope will break for the vice president in the final sprint to Election Day.
In the battle for control of Congress, meanwhile, individual Democratic incumbents and candidates in some key Senate and House races widened their financial advantage over their Republican opponents. Deep-pocketed Republicans donors also tried to close the gap by boosting a GOP super PAC working to seize the Senate majority.
Here are some key takeaways from the filings:
Billionaires back a Trump return to the White House
Musk has emerged as a significant force in Trump’s bid to return to the White House. America PAC, the super PAC Musk funds, has unleashed a massive door-knocking operation in states such as Pennsylvania on Trump’s behalf – though the strategy of a presidential campaign outsourcing its field operation is largely untested.
According to filings through the weekend, America PAC had reported spending nearly $96 million on the presidential race, including just under $57 million on canvassing and field operations.
The new filing from America PAC, detailed seven separate contributions from Musk that totaled close to $75 million between the start of July and end of September – marking the first contributions that Musk has made to the group. It received its initial funding from a network of the billionaire’s former partners and business associates.
Musk was its sole donor during the third quarter, however.
America PAC has taken on a critical supporting role for the Trump campaign, according to its independent expenditure filings, which cover some spending beyond September 30. In addition to the presidential contest, the group has also spent millions targeting several highly competitive House races, including contests in California and New York, viewed as key to Republicans retaining their control of the chamber.
Tuesday’s filings show other conservative billionaires also plowing extraordinary sums into the effort to reelect Trump.
Adelson’s $95 million went to another leading pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America, – accounting for virtually all of the money it collected during the July-to-September quarter. Adelson and her late husband, Sheldon, were among the largest givers to Republican candidates and causes in the past decade, and Miriam Adelson has now given the group a total of $100 million this year.
Preserve America has spent nearly all that it raised in the third quarter and has dropped nearly $92 million on independent expenditures, mostly in ads.
Advertising data shows that Preserve America still has about $29 million worth of ad time booked for the month of October through Election Day, including to boost Trump in the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Another leading pro-Trump super PAC, Restoration PAC, also reported a huge haul from a single major donor. Uihlein gave about $49 million to the group in the third quarter. In all, Uihlein has now given nearly $59 million this year to Restoration PAC, which is currently spending millions on the air in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Other Trump supporters contributing big sums during the third quarter included billionaire former Marvel executive Ike Perlmutter and his wife, Laura, who donated nearly $5 million late last month to the pro-Trump super PAC Right for America.
Harris has also benefited from a major outside effort funded by big-money donors.
FF PAC, the lead super PAC backing the vice president’s campaign, has bought a total of $371 million worth of ad time since the start of 2023, according to AdImpact data, including to support President Biden before he ended his reelection bid in July. It is the largest single outside advertiser in the presidential race.
FF PAC will disclose its September fundraising and spending activity on Sunday. But through the end of August, according to its most recent filings, the group had reported raising more than $200 million this election cycle, including receiving $19 million from the billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and $10 million from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
More shifting roles
Trump 47, a joint fundraising committee that collects high-dollar donations that flow to the former president’s campaign and an array of GOP committees, took in six-figure donations during the third quarter from some boldfaced names, including Steve Mnuchin, who served as Trump’s Treasury secretary, and longtime Trump friend Dana White, the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship. White had a prominent speaking role at the Republican National Convention over the summer.
The Trump 47 committee raised $145 million during the third quarter and started October with nearly $53 million remaining in its accounts.
Tuesday’s filings show Trump 47 footing the bill in recent months for some traditional campaign expenses, such as facility rentals. The committee helped underwrite at least $15.8 million in travel and event costs – helping free up resources in Trump’s principal campaign account to spend on advertising in his battle against a better-funded rival. In August alone, advertising expenses accounted for more than $3 out of every $4 spent by Trump’s main campaign committee.
On Wednesday night, the former president is slated to preside over a fundraiser for Trump 47 at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The event’s top givers either contributed or raised the maximum of $924,600 apiece, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by CNN.
Big donors also fuel fight for Congress
Leading super PACs targeting Senate races reported huge fundraising totals in the third quarter, with Democrats’ narrow majority on the line. .
Senate Majority PAC, a top Democratic super PAC aligned with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, raised over $119 million during the third quarter – a record for the group, edging past the roughly $116 million raised by its Republican counterpart, the Senate Leadership Fund.
Senate Majority PAC received $30 million from a Democratic dark money organization, Majority Forward, along with seven-figure contributions from some of the party’s top wealthy supporters, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker ($2.5 million), former Google CEO Eric Schmidt ($2 million) and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings (just under $2 million).
The Senate Leadership Fund’s receipts also showed some of the leading donors to Republican candidates and causes opening their wallets. They included Citadel CEO Ken Griffin ($20 million, bringing his annual total to $27.5 million), Elliott Management co-CEO Paul Singer ($10 million, bringing his annual total to $20 million) and Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman ($9 million).
In addition, Miriam Adelson gave the fund $5 million in the third quarter, bringing her annual contribution to the group up to $15 million.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Leadership Fund – the main super PAC supporting House Republicans – hauled in more than $81 million in the third quarter. Timothy Mellon, the reclusive GOP megadonor, donated $5 million to the group, and Adelson gave an additional $4 million. The group entered October with nearly $153 million on hand.
Its Democratic counterpart, House Majority PAC, files on a monthly basis and raised nearly $20 million in July and $11.5 million in August and said it raised $69 million in September, according to The New York Times.
Senate Democrats make their final stand
With Republicans almost certain to flip West Virginia’s Senate seat, Democrats hoping to keep their majority in the chamber cannot afford to lose another seat if Harris ends up winning the presidency. Their top priority is defending two vulnerable red-state incumbents: Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. Donors have responded accordingly.
No Senate candidate, incumbent or challenger, raised more than Tester. The Montana dirt farmer raised $32 million in the third quarter and entered October with more than $7 million on hand. His Republican challenger, retired Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, raised about $10 million and had $4 million banked.
Brown raised a staggering $31 million – a sizable increase from the $13 million he raised in the second quarter – and ended the quarter with more than $4 million in the bank. His GOP opponent, businessman Bernie Moreno, raised $6.5 million and entered October with $3 million on hand.
Democratic candidates in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Maryland – all states that feature on CNN’s list of the top Senate seats most likely to flip – outraised their Republican opponents in the third quarter by significant margins.
In battleground Wisconsin, Republican banker Eric Hovde, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, loaned his campaign $7 million in the third quarter, bringing his self-funding total to $20 million. Baldwin, for her part, raised more than $13 million in the three-month period.
And in Texas – a rare potential pickup opportunity for Democrats – Rep. Colin Allred, the Democratic nominee, swamped two-term GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, $30 million to about $18 million, in third-quarter fundraising. Cruz, however, entered October with a massive cash advantage.
House Democrats hold cash advantage in key races
In the battle for the House, where Republicans are defending a razor-thin majority, Democratic candidates entered the final stretch of the campaign in a better financial position.
In 32 districts that Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rate as a “toss-up” or tilting toward one party, Democrats, on average, raised $2.6 million and had about $1.8 million in cash on hand entering October. The average Republican candidate raised about $1.1 million and had $1.4 million left to spend for the final weeks of the race. (The averages did not include a pair of California candidates – Democrat Adam Gray in the 13th District and GOP Rep. Michelle Steel in the 45th District – whose fundraising reports were not available just after midnight Wednesday.)
A few candidates in the 32 races stood out for reporting quarterly hauls not usually seen in House contests. In Virginia’s 7th District, Democrat Eugene Vindman – the twin brother of a star witness at Trump’s first impeachment trial – raised an eye-popping $6.5 million in the third quarter. The closest House candidate to match Vindman was Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, who raised about $4 million in the same period.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
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