Corporate donations to US midterms hit record $646 million

Corporate political spending in the United States has reached an unprecedented $646 million in the 18 months leading up to June, according to new data from the watchdog group Public Citizen. This figure is 40% higher than the total corporate contributions during the entire 2024 presidential election cycle.

The surge is driven by both established industrial players and new entrants from the technology and gambling sectors. Online sports betting companies alone have contributed roughly $76 million to the November midterm elections, spreading their donations across both major parties. Manufacturing conglomerate Koch Inc. gave $20 million in June to its own political action committee, Americans for Prosperity Action.

Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, analyzed Federal Election Commission filings, manually filtering for corporate donations and removing duplicates from executives and their associated companies. The total excludes dark money groups, which are not required to disclose their donors, and is expected to grow as the final two months of the campaign intensify.

"The rate at which corporate money is rushing into our elections should be a flashing warning sign," said Rick Claypool, a research director at Public Citizen. "This is something as a functioning democracy we need to get under control."

The spending surge follows the Supreme Court's 2010 decision that lifted donation and spending restrictions, allowing companies and wealthy individuals to give unlimited sums to independent political groups. Of the $1.7 billion companies have donated to US elections since then, about a third has come in this cycle alone.

Campaign finance watchdogs argue that corporate spending allows niche interests to exert disproportionate influence. However, some First Amendment advocates defend the practice. "It's part and parcel to a system that fully embraces free speech," said Tom Garrett, a vice president at the Institute for Free Speech.

The data shows a marked increase in donations to Republican-aligned PACs as the party fights to hold control of Congress. Political analyst Nate Silver places the odds of Democrats taking the Senate at 57.2% and the House at 84%.

Tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million through a subsidiary to President Donald Trump's super PAC MAGA Inc. in late April. Six cannabis companies, including Curaleaf and Trulieve, gave a combined $11.5 million in June to America First Agriculture Action Inc., a super PAC sharing the same treasurer as MAGA Inc.

Crypto entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss made a $10 million donation to MAGA Inc. through Gemini Trust Co. on June 19, about three weeks after the administration asked a federal judge to reverse a judgment against the company.

The crypto industry remains the largest corporate donor, followed by online betting and AI. Together, these three sectors account for $344 million, more than half of all company donations. Sports betting companies DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and bet365 gave $29 million in the second quarter to the industry's super PAC Win for America.

Prediction market Polymarket entered the elections for the first time with a $1 million donation through its corporate parent to CLF PAC in June, and $10,000 in April to V-PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy's gubernatorial run in Ohio.

The super PAC aligned with OpenAI, Leading the Future, reported receiving $50 million so far, bringing the AI sector's reported donations to $62 million. OpenAI has previously stated that "no outside political group speaks for OpenAI or represents our company's views."

The FEC data excludes state and local races, meaning it does not capture the $65 million Meta has set aside for state races. Some spending is entirely untracked, as companies increasingly move donations through dark money groups. Anthropic has donated $40 million to Public First Action, a nonprofit that has raised $100 million for midterm spending.

The totals also leave out millions spent directly by executives, including the more than $90 million SpaceX founder Elon Musk has spent on federal elections and the $106 million-plus Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent in California fighting a proposed wealth tax.