These 10 megadonors have spent a total of $1 billion on the midterm elections

By Victor Reklaitis

They've helped turn this year's midterms into 'the most expensive election cycle on record'

How big is the spending on the midterm elections? It's setting records.

Top individual megadonors in this year's midterm elections are mostly favoring Republican candidates, delivering a big boost to the GOP's bid to keep its grip on the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

"In many places, the Democratic candidates have outraised the Republican candidates, and Republican megadonors are one reason that a GOP-aligned super PAC calvary has been able to come in and help keep a lot of those races competitive - in terms of the ads that are being aired, in terms of what's being done to advance messages," said Michael Beckel, director of the money-in-politics reform program at Issue One, an advocacy group.

"It is just some really jaw-dropping, astonishing amounts of money that some of these top donors have pumped into the 2026 midterms," he added.

The table below, based on data from watchdog group OpenSecrets, shows the 10 biggest individual contributors to super PACs and other outside groups for the current election cycle. Super PACs are political action committees that can receive and spend unlimited amounts of money. Just two of these top 10 donors gave mostly to Democratic or left-leaning outside groups.

The top donors to outside groups

 
Rank             Donor name            Affiliated enterprise  Home state  Total contributions  % to Democratic/left-leaning  % to Republican/right-leaning 
1                Musk, Elon                    SpaceX, Tesla          TX         $445,457,890                             0                            100 
2          Uihlein, Richard                            Uline          IL         $141,963,415                             0                            100 
3                Yass, Jeff  Susquehanna International Group          PA         $109,000,000                             0                            100 
4        Bloomberg, Michael                     Bloomberg LP          NY          $82,878,998                          97.6                              0 
5           Adelson, Miriam                   Adelson Clinic          NV          $66,097,500                           0.1                           99.9 
6          Andreessen, Marc              Andreessen Horowitz          CA          $55,780,000                           0.1                           12.4 
         Horowitz, Benjamin              Andreessen Horowitz          CA          $55,780,000                           0.1                           12.4 
8              Singer, Paul               Elliott Management          FL          $48,712,400                             0                           94.7 
9             Hoffman, Reid                Greylock Partners          WA          $38,468,724                           100                              0 
10      Schwarzman, Stephen                 Blackstone Group          NY          $35,435,400                             0                            100 

The total amount of money contributed by these 10 contributors, who all have been big spenders in past election cycles, is $1.08 billion, according to OpenSecrets data. SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk accounts for nearly half of that outlay.

These donations are helping this year's midterms set spending records. AdImpact, an ad-tracking company, said this week that it projects advertising spending of $11.6 billion for the 2026 election cycle, topping the $11.2 billion spent during the 2024 presidential election to rank as the "the most expensive election cycle on record." (Adjusting for inflation, the 2024 outlay would be around $12 billion.)

An important factor behind the elevated spending is the growing number of competitive races, according to Issue One's Beckel.

"As the political climate has deteriorated for national Republicans and for President Trump's popularity, a lot of seats have been viewed as much more competitive than they were just a few months ago or at the beginning of the cycle," Beckel told MarketWatch. "When you've got competitive races, you've got a lot of money flowing into competitive races, and I think that perfect storm has helped enable a lot of new records to be shattered this election cycle."

Musk has been vocal about his reasons for supporting Republican candidates, writing in a social-media post this week that his "biggest concern" is that Democrats winning the House, Senate and presidency in the 2028 election would lead to changes such as statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as citizenship for "everyone living in America illegally to cement a permanent majority."

"This would result in America becoming a permanent one-party state and the end of democracy in any meaningful sense of the word," said Musk, who is the world's richest man, with an estimated net worth of around $874 billion. "All that is needed to ensure this doesn't happen is 51 Republican senators in 2029. That is why you should vote for Republican senators this election. Other reasons are irrelevant compared to this one."

Democrats have a 94% chance of winning the House and a 71% likelihood of capturing the Senate, according to prediction market Kalshi.

Now read: The 5 big voting issues in the midterm elections that will impact your wallet

-Victor Reklaitis

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10-31-26 0800ET