A Look at How Billionaires Are Quietly Swaying Elections

America's billionaire class is pouring unprecedented sums into elections, reshaping races from small school boards to the US Senate, according to a New York Times analysis. Since the Supreme Court loosened campaign finance rules in 2010, ultrawealthy donors have become central power brokers in both federal and state politics, outspending everyone else combined in some contests. The trend is raising concerns across the political spectrum about influence, accountability, and whether ordinary voters can still compete. A closer look:

• Billionaires and their immediate families supplied about 19% of all federal campaign contributions in 2024—more than $3 billion. Some 300 billionaire families averaged $10 million each, equal to the combined contributions of 100,000 typical donors. And that doesn't include giving to groups not required to disclose donors.
• Illustrating just how drastic the change has been, the Times notes billionaire political spending was essentially nonexistent pre-2010 at 0.3%. Since then, the number of billionaires has ballooned substantially.
• Billionaire support was heavily tilted: for every dollar given to Democratic candidates or committees, five went to Republicans in 2024, driven in part by tech and finance figures who favor lower taxes and deregulation. The Washington Post previously found that more than 80% of federal campaign donations by the 100 wealthiest Americans went to Republicans in 2024.

• The Times spotlights Montana's pivotal 2024 Senate race, where at least 64 billionaires and 37 of their family members helped propel Republican Tim Sheehy, who supports tax policies benefitting the wealthy, past Democratic incumbent Jon Tester, with roughly $47 million in billionaire-linked money flowing to the contest.
• "It's a form of prostitution, quite frankly," Tester tells the Times. "But if you want to effect change ... this is the field that the Supreme Court has laid out that we have to play on."

For a deeper dive, including a look at spending in individual states, see the full piece at the Times.