Paul Ryan raised $9,035,400 from donors who cut checks larger than $50,000. | AP Photo Analysis Bulk of Ryan's fundraising haul in $50k-plus chunks Corporate PACs and big-name GOP donors forked over staggering amounts to the speaker's burgeoning fundraising operation.

Paul Ryan’s massive $17 million fundraising haul this quarter was fueled by some of the nation’s richest people and large corporate political action committees, which cut five- and six-figure checks to the speaker's burgeoning political operation, according to an election filing made public Wednesday.

More than $9 million of Ryan’s take in the first quarter of 2016 was from donors and PACs who cut checks larger than $50,000, according to a POLITICO analysis of the Team Ryan Federal Election Commission filing.


For example, billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, and his wife Elizabeth gave Ryan a total of $488,400 in March alone. Koch Industries PAC chipped in $71,000.

The Kochs weren’t the only couple whose donation to Ryan neared a half-million dollars. Former Bain Capital managing director Paul Edgerly and his wife Sandra; billionaire Charles B. Johnson and his wife; Houston Texans owner Robert McNair and his wife Janice all gave $488,400 to Ryan.

Texas developer Harlan Crow, private equity executive Thomas McInerney, home-building tycoon Dwight Schar and New York Stock Exchange Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher gave Ryan $244,200 each.

Ryan is able to raise these enormous sums because Team Ryan, his fundraising organ, is a joint committee. It funnels the donations to Ryan for Congress, the National Republican Congressional Committee and Prosperity Action, Ryan’s leadership PAC. Republicans have seen a spike in fundraising of late, as donors look to protect their majorities in Congress from what they see as a damaging 2016 presidential cycle.

Ryan raised $9,035,400 from donors who cut checks larger than $50,000.

The largest PAC donation was from Koch, followed by AT&T, which gave $65,000.

The vast majority of the money Ryan raised through Team Ryan — $11 million of the $17 million — is going to the NRCC, an aide said. A Ryan aide said the large donations are only a “partial picture” of Ryan’s fundraising, and noted that much of the money the speaker raises through Ryan for Congress comes in small donations. The aide also pointed out that direct mail and online donations average between $40 and $50.

Viewed any way, though, the donations that flowed into Team Ryan this quarter are eye-popping .

August Busch, a member of the beer-brewing family, gave $244,000; Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of Citadel, a Chicago-based investment firm, chipped in $238,800. Muneer Satter, who co-chaired Mitt Romney’s fundraising efforts, donated $233,800 to Team Ryan.

Other large donors include Idaho billionaire Frank Vandersloot, who forked over $122,100. Colorado-based billionaire Philip Anschutz and Wall Street titan Stanley Druckenmiller gave $150,000. Ross Perot Jr., son of the former presidential candidate, gave $100,000; and Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot, donated $50,000.

