Trump relies on billionaire donors to fund 2024 race against Harris

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump, who rose to political power fueled by grassroots contributors giving in small increments, is now reliant on wealthy backers, including billionaires Elon Musk and Miriam Adelson, to underwrite his third White House bid.

The former president’s political operation has raised nearly twice as much money — $514.7 million — from donors giving $1 million or more to super political action committees, compared to the $260 million his campaign has raised from small-dollar donors giving $200 or less, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.

The master of small-dollar fundraising, who’s cumulatively raised more money from modest donors than any other politician in history, is losing his touch, the filings show. He brought in only about one-third of the $321 million Vice President Kamala Harris raised from people giving less than $200 a pop, third-quarter filings with the FEC show. That enormous sum helped Harris and the Democratic Party raise a record-shattering $1.1 billion for the quarter, more than double what Trump and the Republicans raised during that period.

Changes to Facebook’s rules for targeting political advertisements have hobbled Trump’s ability to wring cash from its users as effectively as he did during his rise to the White House. Campaigns can no longer directly target followers with fundraising appeals, nor target users by political views, making it harder and more expensive to prospect for contributors.

The switch from grassroots support to billionaire donors also shows how Republican mega-donors have embraced Trump as he has transitioned from party outsider to the GOP standard-bearer. The former president has also brought in new donors, including Musk, who are relative newcomers to political circles.

The Democrats’ fundraising edge over their Republican rivals means they’ve entered the final — and most expensive stretch — of the campaign with $63 million more in the bank. Harris is also spending more: $826 million in the third quarter compared to just $340 million for Trump.

The massive spending advantage managed to cut Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics average of battleground state polls to a fraction of a percent by Oct. 1, and the two head into the final two weeks of the campaign deadlocked.

Trump has outsourced his ground game, as well as much of his advertising efforts, to super PACs that support him. Fueled by eight-figure donations from Tesla Inc. and SpaceX’s Musk, Las Vegas Sands majority shareholder Adelson, former Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac Perlmutter and his wife Laura Perlmutter and investor Timothy Mellon, four pro-Trump super PACs combined to rake in $337 million in the third quarter, more than the $218 million raised by super PACs whose spending is predominantly aimed at supporting Harris over the same period.

Billionaire Donors

Recent donations to boost Trump’s super PACs include another $25 million from Mellon, bringing his total donations to the super PAC to $150 million. The PAC also received $5 million donations from Linda McMahon, the co-chairwoman of Trump’s transition team, and former Primerica co-chief executive officer John Addison. Harold Hamm and his company, Continental Resources Inc., each chipped in $1 million.

Harris’ campaign launched an initial $370 million paid media campaign in August, about 10 days after she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket following President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek a second term. She’s also invested heavily in thousands of paid staffers in hundreds of field offices in battleground states. She’s outspending Trump and his allies in most swing states.

The big checks backing Harris are largely coming from donors who don’t want their identities known. Future Forward, the main super PAC supporting her, raised $104 million in September, with $40 million coming from its allied political nonprofit, Future Forward USA Action, which doesn’t disclose the names of its donors.

The super PAC received $9 million from a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, Evidence For Impact. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz donated $10 million, while Ripple Labs co-founder Christian Larsen gave $9.9 million.