The Scale of Billionaires' Campaign Donations is Overwhelming U.S. Politics
The extraordinary spending in Montana is part of a new era of political power for the rapidly growing number of billionaires minted over the past eight years. The Times analysis found that 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated more than $3 billion — 19 percent of all contributions — in federal elections in 2024, either directly or through political action committees.
Five presidential elections ago, before the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that lifted many remaining campaign finance restrictions, the share of billionaire spending was almost zero — 0.3 percent, to be precise.
The billionaire families gave an average total of $10 million each in 2024, an amount roughly equal to what 100,000 typical political donors gave, combined. And that does not count money that billionaires contributed through dark money groups that do not have to disclose their donors.
Money at that scale can be game-changing in tight races. TV ads, targeted digital advertising, canvassing technology to aim door-knockers at the right voters — spending money wins elections.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/us/billionaires-federal-election-campaign-contributions.html