There are many ways major political donors can flex their financial influence in an election. In this cycle, a handful of powerful donors have chosen to contribute to “guardian angel” political action committees.

Guardian angel super PACs are a breed of committees that receive 40 to 100 percent of their funds from a single wealthy individual.

These super PACs aren’t new to campaign finance, said Dr. Steven Billet, the director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.

For example, during Newt Gingrich’s 2012 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate and powerful conservative donor, spent tens of millions of dollars on Gingrich’s campaign through these super PACs, Billet said.

The Center for Responsive Politics identified 19 donors who have substantially funded 29 guardian angel super PACs during this election cycle. Most are conservative donors, and some have financed super PACs supporting or opposing a single candidate’s campaign.

Three of the donors, Adelson, Thomas Steyer and Richard Uihlein, are responsible for $81 million, over 80 percent, of the contributions. Collectively, the 19 donors gave $101 million to committees that raised $161 million.

Several of these guardian angels are well-known names in the world of large political donors: Steyer, Adelson, Uihlein, Michael Bloomberg, Robert Mercer and George Soros.

Others are lesser known, but so far have spent considerable money this cycle, like Michael Porter, William Scully, Mark Headley, Ron Gula and Alwal Moore.

These donations are far more powerful than regular campaign contributions to a candidate, Billet said.

“If you’re pumping half a million or a million into a campaign, it’s a whole new level of leverage,” Billet said. “If Newt had won, anytime Sheldon comes to Washington, he gets to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom.”



The top spender to a single committee is Steyer, a liberal hedge fund manager, who gave $29.2 million to NextGen Climate Action, an environmental advocacy committee. The super PAC so far raised $30.2 million.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

Adelson isn’t far behind, giving $25 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, nearly half of the super PAC’s funds. The committee was formed to maintain the Republican majority in the Senate.

Uihlein, a conservative businessman, is the primary donor for 10 different conservative committees, over a third of the super PACs listed. In total, he donated $27 million to a variety of outside groups, three of which are single candidate super PACs in Wisconsin and Missouri.

CFG Action Wisconsin and Solutions Wisconsin received 100 percent of their total funds from Uihlein. Both super PACs supported Kevin Nicholson’s failed campaign for the Republican nomination in the Wisconsin Senate primary.

Both of these super PACs spent more on Nicholson than he spent on himself. Collectively, they disbursed $3.5 million, while Nicholson’s campaign used $3 million and lost to Leah Vukmir.

Missouri Rising Action and CFG Action Missouri support Josh Hawley, the Missouri attorney general challenging Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) this November.

Uihlein gave $2 million to CFG Action Missouri, which is over 60 percent of the super PAC’s receipts. Missouri Rising Action received over 70 percent of its total donations —$1.1 million— from Missouri businessman David Humphreys.

Bloomberg, the former Republican mayor of New York City, gave $586,000 to his super PAC, Independent USA. So far this cycle, Bloomberg — now an Independent — has spent $1 million, a modest amount compared to his promise to spend $80 million on Democrats running for House seats.

William Scully gave $1 million to Integrity New Jersey, the only super PAC on the list opposing a candidate. The committee formed to campaign against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

One of the lesser known names on the list is Michael Porter, a wealthy Texas resident. His $500,000 contribution supplied 100 percent of ProjectRedTX’s earnings, a super PAC devoted to guiding Texas redistricting efforts in the Republican Party’s favor.

“Should these people have this kind of leverage?” Billet said. “It’s Sheldon who has said, ‘I’m really against big dollar contributions, but if I can do it, I will do it.’”



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜