As the federal election cycle races toward becoming the most expensive in US history, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are being backed by staggering sums. But how do the financial forces and interests stack up between the two?
Fifty megadonors have collectively poured over $2.5 billion into political committees and other organizations supporting Democrats and Republicans, according to The . Individual megadonors have played “an outsized role” in the 2024 presidential race, Axios reports.Billionaires Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg gave $50 million each to support Kamala Harris, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has given almost $75 million to PACs supporting Trump. Businessman Timothy Mellon poured a whopping $125 million into the super PAC Make America Great Again. Nonetheless, Harris is leading Trump by over two-to-one in terms of fundraising and spending.Referring to the Biden and Clinton families’ suspected influence peddling schemes, the analyst noted that “it’s relatively cheap to send $20 million, $100 million, even $250 million towards a politician, if that politician can turn around and help a big company turn $2 trillion into $4 trillion.”Kamala Harris has raised around $1 billion since July, when she was endorsed by George and Alex Soros, BlackRock co-founder Ralph Schlosstein, and Evercore founder Roger Altman.
