Left – Mike Bloomberg (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Right – Tom Steyer (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Two billionaire presidential candidates, Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg, are dominating the list of 2020 megadonors as they pour hundreds of millions of dollars into their own campaigns. The other eight megadonors are names who have headlined the largest contributors lists for several cycles. Combined, their contributions total over $116.5 million so far.

This cycle’s top donor, Steyer has given over $28 million to outside groups, while also spending almost $253 million of his own money on his presidential campaign.

Bloomberg, ranking third on the list, has spent over $409 million and contributed nearly $16 million to outside groups. Bloomberg came under the spotlight after he gave $10 million to Democrats’ House Majority PAC and six figures to the Democratic National Committee, which later revised its debate rules to allow him participate.

Ahead of primaries in South Carolina, Bloomberg appeared to accidentally say that he had “bought” Democrats control of the Congress in 2018 at the debate hosted by CBS on Tuesday. In 2018, the billionaire threw his weight behind multiple candidates by giving $95 million to outside groups. Independence USA PAC, which shelled out over $38 million, spent 90 percent of its money successfully backing Democrats while Everytown for Gun Safety spent almost $5.3 million.

Hedge fund manager Donald Sussman has contributed over $19.2 million, giving $17.6 million to liberal outside groups such as House Majority PAC and Senate Majority PAC. He also gave $5,600 to the Steyer campaign along with dozens of Democrats in key congressional races. Sussman, who runs Paloma Partners, was a top donor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, giving over $21.6 million, primarily to outside groups supporting her.

Timothy Mellon, the chairman of transportation holding company Pan Am Systems, has given over $10 million, making him the biggest GOP megadonor this election cycle. He also contributed $2,800 to the presidential campaign of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) in October of last year.

Fred Eychaner, president of media house Newsweb, has given around $8.5 million. A longtime Democratic donor, Eychaner gave $4 million to the House Majority PAC and $2,800 each to almost all frontrunning Democratic presidential candidates including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), former mayor of South Bend, Ind., Pete Buttigeig and former Vice President Joe Biden.

A regular feature in megadonors lists, George Soros, chairman of Open Society Foundation, has given over $7.3 million, most of which went to Democracy PAC, which he created in 2019.

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Among the other megadonors, Florida-based philanthropists Henry and Marsha Laufer donated over $7.1 million to Democratic candidates and super PACs. Deborah Simon, heiress to a shopping mall development company, has given around $6 million to outside groups and presidential candidates such Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Shipping supplies billionaire Richard Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth, the ninth highest contributors, gave over $6.3 million to Republican groups including over $1.5 million to America First Action, a super PAC supporting President Donald Trump.

Megadonors contribute generously to super PACs since those groups can accept unlimited contributions. The top 100 megadonors are just 0.1 percent of individuals donating to super PACs, but their contributions constitute 78.9 percent of the total money raised. In the past decade, following the Citizens United verdict, outside groups spent $4.5 billion, with $1.2 billion coming from the top 10 donors.

Super PACs affiliated with Democrats raised significantly more money than their Republican counterparts in 2019. While House Majority PAC and Senate Majority PAC raised a combined total of nearly $115 million, similar GOP groups Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund raised around $67.3 million.

About 20 percent of American billionaires donated to at least one Democratic candidate toward the end of 2019, Forbes reported. Biden lead with support from 60 billionaires, while former mayor of South Bend, Ind., Pete Buttigieg had the backing of 56.

Klobuchar has the support of 29 billionaires, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has no significant support from them. Warren has six billionaires backing her. Individuals can only donate up to $2,800 to each candidate for the primary election.

Billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson and GOP donor has yet to contribute a notable amount to any super PACs. Adelson and his wife Miriam, who usually top the list of highest donors, have given $2.4 million this cycle. However, he is expected to donate at least $100 million to boost Trump, The Guardian recently reported.



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