Timothy Mellon: 82-year-old American businessman. Donated 50 million dollars to Make America Great Again Inc on the same day as Donald Trump was indicted on 34 counts. Previously, he had already made two donations to the organization of 10 and 5 million dollars, respectively, according to the election authority FEC.
George Soros: 93-year-old financier who has donated large sums to the Democrats throughout the 2000s. In January, he gave 60 million dollars via a non-profit organization to Democracy Pac, which in turn supports the Democrats, according to Bloomberg.
Peter Thiel: Venture capitalist and co-founder of Paypal. Thiel donated over a million dollars to Trump's campaign in 2016 but reportedly will not contribute in 2024. Ahead of the 2022 midterm election, he gave 15 million dollars to a super-PAC that supported Trump's current vice presidential candidate JD Vance when he was elected as a senator. It was the largest single donation to a senatorial candidate of all time, according to Forbes.
Charles Koch: 88-year-old chairman and CEO of the megacorporation Koch Industries. He and his late brother David Koch have for several years given money to organizations that have supported Republican candidates. The brothers are behind Americans for Prosperity Action, a super-PAC that backed Nikki Haley before she dropped out of the race. In 2023, Charles Koch gave 50 million dollars, from Koch Industries and a non-profit organization, to Americans for Prosperity Action to support other Republican candidates besides Trump, according to The New York Times.
Michael Bloomberg: 82-year-old businessman, the world's 13th richest person, and former mayor of New York. Bloomberg is a well-known Democratic "megadonor". In May, a donation of 19 million dollars to Future Forward was registered with the FEC, and simultaneously one of over 900,000 dollars to Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee of the Democrats for Biden's re-election campaign.
A super-PAC is an organization that conducts political activities and campaigns. "PAC" stands for political action committee. Some super-PACs back individual candidates.
Donating money to a politician's campaign has certain limitations, but to a super-PAC, private individuals, companies, and trade unions can give unlimited amounts, and super-PACs can in turn spend unlimited amounts on political activities and campaigns.
A super-PAC is not allowed to coordinate directly with a candidate.
Source: Federal Election Commission.
