Democrats spent much of the 2014 campaign castigating Republican big money, but, it turns out, their side actually finished ahead among the biggest donors of 2014 – at least among those whose contributions were disclosed.

The 100 biggest donors of 2014 gave nearly $174 million to Democrats, compared to more than $140 million to Republicans, according to a POLITICO analysis of reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service.


Donors who gave mostly or exclusively to Democrats held down 52 of the top 100 spots, including that of the biggest by far – retired San Francisco hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer, who spent $74 million helping Democratic candidates and groups.

Of course, that edge doesn’t take into account contributions to deep-pocketed non-profit groups that don’t disclose their donors. They heavily favored Republicans, with reports showing conservative secret money non-profits outspending liberal ones $127 million to $33 million. While that’s just a fraction of the overall undisclosed money spent in 2014, it’s indicative of a dramatic imbalance in a type of big money spending that likely would close the gap between Democratic and Republican top donors, if not put Republicans ahead.

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For instance, the network of mostly secret-money non-profit groups helmed by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers was on pace to spend $290 million in 2014. Yet David and Charles Koch, who Democrats worked to vilify as the very personifications of the corrupting effect of big money in politics, ranked as only the 10th and 29th biggest givers of disclosed cash in POLITICO’s analysis.

Nonetheless, the analysis suggests that rich liberals have gotten over any lingering qualms about writing huge checks to unlimited-money groups like those made legal under a pair of 2010 federal court decisions – including Citizens United vs. FEC – that liberals including President Barack Obama had blasted as undermining American democracy.

POLITICO’s analysis is the most comprehensive assessment to date of elite donor spending in the first full midterm election cycle following Citizens United. The analysis relies on FEC data processed by the Center for Responsive Politics (a non-partisan non-profit group), supplemented by IRS data aggregated and made available for downloading by Political Moneyline, covering donations made during the 2014 cycle, including reports filed last month that detail contributions through the final days of the race. The analysis incorporates checks written by donors, their spouses and closely controlled corporations to federal candidates’ campaigns and national party committees, as well as to political action committees and super PACs registered with the FEC. The analysis also covers donations to national non-profit groups established under a section of the tax code – 527 – that allows organizations like the Democratic and Republican governors associations and EMILY’s List to accept unlimited contributions for political spending, provided they disclose their donors to the IRS.

The list contains some familiar names in the world of big political spending from across the political spectrum, including the hawkish Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson (who ranked No. 3; with $13.2 million in disclosed donations, but who also donated another $10 million or more in undisclosed money), as well as the liberal financier George Soros and his son Jonathan Soros (Nos. 16 and 38, respectively, giving a combined $5.6 million).

But it also includes some new additions to the big money political game.

Linda McMahon, who built a fortune by creating a professional wrestling empire, had never spent heavily in politics before she dropped $100 million on her own unsuccessful 2010 Senate bid. But she reinvented herself in 2014 as a seven-figure donor, combining with her husband Vince McMahon to give $3.7 million (good for No. 17 on the list) to Republican candidates and committees, though the vast majority came in checks in her name.

On the Democratic side, hedge fund billionaire Jim Simons, who had established himself in 2012 as among the left’s mega-donors, emerged as perhaps the Democrat’s most reliable big-check writer. He combined with his wife Marilyn Simons to donate $8.3 million (ranking the couple seventh), most of which went to the super PACs endorsed by Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi to help elect Democratic congressional candidates.

Many other mega-donors similarly gave their biggest checks to super PACs that acted essentially as adjuncts of the parties themselves, though such groups are legally barred from coordinating their spending with party or candidate committees.

But some of the very biggest donors also demonstrated an independent streak that could pose problems for party operatives concerned that they’re losing power and money to super PACs and other independent groups that – unlike the party committees – can accept checks of unlimited amounts.

Indeed, five of the top 10 donors donated primarily or significantly to political groups that they themselves helped create and control.

Steyer gave 90 percent of his cash to a super PAC he started to draw attention to climate change. It supported exclusively Democrats, but won only three of the seven races in which it played, prompting questions about whether his cash would have been better spent elsewhere.

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, the second biggest donor, had better luck with his own group, though it still vexed Democrats who had hoped he would more helpful to them given that their stances align more closely with his key issues: gun control, gay marriage and fighting obesity. He gave about half of his $27.7-million total to his Independence USA super PAC, which reported spending more money helping Republican candidates than Democratic ones.

Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, is not going to adjust his big-money spending to please either party, suggested his political adviser Howard Wolfson.

“Bloomberg is an independent who supports moderate candidates from both parties at the federal and state levels and he will continue to do so,” Wolfson said.

Hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, the fourth-biggest donor, gave about one quarter of his $12.6-million tally to a super PAC he created to boost Republicans who favor gay rights. TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts and his wife Marlene Ricketts, the eighth-biggest donors of the cycle, gave all but $1 million of their $6.8 million in disclosed donations to a family super PAC called Ending Spending Action Fund, while the Koch brothers gave $4 million to a super PAC run by their network called Freedom Partners Action Fund.

A handful of top donors – including Bloomberg and Napster co-founder Sean Parker (No. 43, at $1.6 million) – either split their giving between the parties or gave to groups that supported both Democrats and Republicans. And not all of the big checks given by the top donors could be easily assigned to one party’s column or the other.

Overall, the 100 biggest campaign donors combined to give $323 million in 2014, according to POLITICO’s analysis. That was almost as much as the $356 million given by the estimated 4.75 million people who gave $200 or less – a comparison that underscores the growing giving power of the ultra-rich in American politics.