Just twelve individuals and their families–six Republicans and six Democrats–account for more than one out of thirteen dollars donated to federal political causes since 2009, according to a New York Times report on a study by the non-partisan group Issue One.
The twelve spent more than $3.4 billion on political causes, including donations directly to candidates, political action committees, legislative advertising or political groups.
The top donor, New York billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, spent more than $1 billion of his own money on an abandoned presidential campaign. He also spent $314 million on other political causes over that time, and he is the only one to spend more than $1 billion.
The second highest spender is also a former presidential candidate: Tom Steyer. Steyer and his wife have spent more than $650 million, with more than half going to his 2020 presidential campaign.
The largest Republican donor was the late Sheldon Adelson who along with is wife, spent more than $523 million on political campaigns. Miriam Adelson was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump, ostensibly for philanthropic activities. Sheldon Adelson died in January.
Per the Times report, the other top contributors among Republicans were Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein ($138 million), founders of Uline shipping; Ken Griffin ($107 million), the investor and founder of Citadel LLC; Patricia and Timothy Mellon ($70 million), an heir to the Mellon fortune and chairman of Pan Am Systems; Marlene and Joe Ricketts ($66 million), the founder of T.D. Ameritrade and whose family owns the Chicago Cubs; and Paul Singer ($63 million), an investor and founder of Elliott Management.
For Democrats, the other donors were Donald Sussman ($98 million), the founder of Paloma Funds; Jim Simons ($93 million), the founder of Renaissance Technologies, and his wife, Marilyn; Fred Eychaner ($92 million), a media mogul; and Dustin Moskovitz ($83 million), the co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, Cari Tuna.