We’re in the home stretch of campaign 2024 and the candidates’ last official financial reports before the election have been filed. Today, with just days until we know who our next president is, we look at the funds fueling the spending frenzy in the frantic final moments, and what it could tell us about who may hold sway over the winner.
The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.
Vice President Kamala Harris: Today is the day I hope you will donate.
Former President Donald Trump: I’m humbly asking for you to chip in the average grassroots donation.
The most visible impact of all that fundraising is the endless campaign ads. Looking at just who is forking out all the campaign cash funding the ads can reveal a lot about who expects to benefit if their candidate wins.
Full Measure dug in to identify the biggest donors behind each candidate. We examined data filed so far, published by the nonprofit OpenSecrets, which tracks donations to the candidates and outside groups supporting them.
Anna Massoglia: We are looking at more than $14 billion at this point. We’re projecting this to be a new nominal record.
Anna Massoglia is OpenSecret’s Editorial and Investigations Manager.
Sharyl: Kamala Harris’s first full month as the official Democrat nominee, if I’m correct on this, tripled, almost, Donald Trump’s fundraising in that one month, $361 million for her to $130 million for him. I think people might find that surprising. That’s a big difference.
Massoglia: It is, and it’s a big shift for the Democratic Party as well, where we were seeing donors become very hesitant. In particular, after Biden’s debate performance in June, many of them threatened to pull their donations or stop donating to the main super PAC supporting Biden as well as to the party and Biden’s campaign. When we saw Harris take over, we saw this huge boom in donations. At this point we’re seeing both candidates raising and spending huge sums, but just that initial bump was unprecedented.
Massoglia says the biggest standout late in the money game is the flamboyant X-owner and now Trump campaign surrogate Elon Musk, who suddenly dumped more than $100 million into the race.
Sharyl: What is the Elon Musk factor?
Massoglia: Elon Musk has really been a game changer for this election cycle. The amount that Musk has given puts him among the top donors of the election cycle out of nowhere. Looking at Musk’s history of political contributions, he has given very little over the years, only small sums in the most recent election cycle. This really has the potential to have a change in the election because of the pure sum of money that is going into it.
Edging out Musk among top individual donors in campaign 2024 is another Trump supporter and also a relative newcomer: Investor Timothy Mellon, an heir to the Mellon banking fortune.
Massoglia: Mellon is one of the newer donors who has emerged this cycle in a very big way, similar to Musk. He does not have a long history of giving and making large political contributions. Very quickly, earlier in the election cycle, he was giving to a pro Kennedy super PAC, but when Kennedy dropped out, he shifted over to Trump and has poured money in a very big way.
So Mellon is the biggest donor overall of campaign 2024. Then businesswoman and doctor Miriam Adelson, widow of a casino magnate. Musk ranks the fourth largest donor of 2024, giving more than $118 million. All of those are Trump supporters.
Harris’s top individual donor in the campaign is: Michael Bloomberg of the Bloomberg financial and media empire and former Mayor of New York. He’s given over $43 million. Another top Harris backer is LinkedIn cofounder Reid Garrett Hoffman.
Those are some of the individuals making a difference. When it comes to which companies give the most to each candidate’s committee, Harris’s biggest money comes from people affiliated with Alphabet, which owns Google— nearly three million dollars. Trump’s most generous donors are from the Defense Department: $366 thousand dollars.
Beyond Alphabet, Harris also makes bank from Big Tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and IBM—all among her top givers. Other cash standouts are Stanford, Harvard, the University of California, and the University of Wisconsin. As well as medical interests Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Mass General Brigham.
For Trump: it’s airlines and aerospace: American, Boeing, Delta, Southwest, Lockheed Martin, United, Collins Aerospace, and Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon.
And an assortment including a real estate company, a bank, a law firm, UPS, Amazon, Walmart, and Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate owned by Warren Buffett.
In terms of industries, there’s a new kid on the block making waves.
Sharyl: Is the cryptocurrency industry bigger in donations this time than they have been?
Massoglia: More than ever. We’re seeing probably of all the industries the biggest growth has been in the cryptocurrency industry. One of the top spending Super PACs this cycle is Fair Shake. And what makes them really unique is that they don’t necessarily support one side or the other. They’ve attacked candidates on both sides of the aisle, supported candidates on both sides of the aisle as long as they’re considered either pro-crypto or anti-crypto.
Sharyl: Is the cryptocurrency industry interested because they’re facing the specter of potential regulation?
Massoglia: We have seen a huge boom in the cryptocurrency industry in recent years. And along with that, a risk of regulation, a risk of cracking down on this virgining industry. And so it would make sense that they would want to pour money into political spending.
And lastly: a lot of money comes to both Harris and Trump from people who don’t work for anyone. They’re Retirees— with Trump coming out on top: $129 million to $102 million. Trump and Harris also get similar amounts from real estate interests.
Here’s what sets them apart: Trump gets twice as much from securities and investment firms. Harris gets more than double the money from health professionals. And five times more from lawyers, civil servants and public officials.
Other top industries supporting Harris but not so much Trump are Internet, TV and Music, Pharmaceuticals and Health Products, Hospitals and Nursing Homes, and Nonprofits. Big for Trump but not Harris are: Tobacco, Pro-Israel, Oil and Gas.
In the ultimate battle between which candidate’s campaign committee drew more donations, Harris outweighs Trump at over $906 million compared to more than $367 million.
Of course the big question is how much does money matter in getting the candidate elected?
Massoglia: Traditionally, money has equated to a win. Incumbents tend to win more, they tend to get more money. But that is something that’s shifted in recent years.
Starting in 2008, the Democrat presidential candidate has raised far more money than the Republican and won. But the exception is 2016. Trump didn’t get the traditional donations from some establishment Republican supporters, like the Koch brothers. Hillary Clinton outspent Trump $564 million to $333 million. But Trump won anyway. Which means that there’s no way to predict whether Harris’s big money advantage in 2024 will ultimately translate into victory.
Massoglia: Trump being a huge part of that shift where we’re seeing small donors and grassroots donors becoming much more a part of equation. That’s not to say that mega donors are going anywhere, but it’s not necessarily who has more money that wins. It’s whoever resonates with the American people, whoever has their profile out there.
Sharyl (on-camera): Before 2016, every presidential election was more expensive than the previous one. And 2024 continues the trend. But 2016, Trump-Clinton was less costly than the 2012 election.
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What was the role of unions within various categories? Some donations from the health sector and other professions actually come via unions. Government employees, whether rank and file or professionals, are in unions. Also, professional association PACs don’t always reflect the varied views of their constituents.