The Biggest Companies Donating to the Trump and Harris 2024 Campaigns – How They Affect the Election
On Election Day, centi-billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos get the same number of votes as you – one. However, during the campaign to Nov. 5, their voices are much higher than yours.
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That’s because the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision ruled that political contributions are constitutionally protected speech — and the impact of that decision is moving the 2024 presidential race.
No American corporation has given corporate money directly to the Trump or Harris campaigns. Federal law prohibits campaigns from accepting contributions directly from corporate treasury funds, labor unions or national banks. Company employees can give limited amounts as individuals, but even more powerfully, companies and their billionaire CEOs can give as much as they want to political action committees (PACs ) and so-called super PACs.
That indirect access to corporate wealth helped former President Donald Trump raise nearly $382 million for his candidacy. Vice President Kamala Harris has earned more than $1 billion since entering the race three months ago, according to Open Secrets.
Here’s a look at how much America’s biggest companies and wealthiest CEOs are giving, to the candidates and parties they favor, and how others are securing their bets and covering foundations. theirs by kicking money in both.
Currently Popular:
Harris: $56,504
Trump: $16,810
Summary: $210,267
In the world of corporate political activity, Tesla is a nonentity – at least on paper. It gave small five-figure sums to both presidential contenders, and even smaller sums to candidates and party campaign committees.
But as OpenSecrets points out, “The organization itself did not give, instead, the money came from individual members of the organization or employees or owners, and close family members of those people. The organizations themselves cannot contribute to candidates and party committees. ”
In terms of contributions, Tesla’s position-and-file favors Harris by a margin of more than three to one. But if money is a language, no word can stop the word of the richest man in the world. That person is their boss, and no business titan has changed his wealth and influence in 2024 more than Elon Musk, who Forbes says is worth $268.7 billion.
OpenSecrets says Musk has contributed more than $118 billion to the pro-Trump America PAC, the largest PAC dedicated to rallying voters in key swing areas. His sheer commitment and headline-grabbing ambitions have garnered a lot of attention, not all of it positive. CNN reports that the Philadelphia DA is suing Musk in connection with a highly publicized sweepstakes that offers $1 million to a different candidate from the battlefield every day who agrees to sign Musk’s petition.
Musk has direct personal and business interests in government policies, including federal EV tax credits, transportation spending, defense and aerospace contracts, trade regulation and public affairs regulation. OpenSecrets says his emergence as Trump’s top proxy represents a sharp break in Musk’s history of involvement in both parties. It ranks Tesla and SpaceX “in the top 10% of organizations tracked by OpenSecrets for lobbying and political contributions from their partners.”
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Harris: $1,233,011
Trump: $67,847
Summary: $5,553,740
Like Tesla, Amazon’s employee contributions are set to be independent of Harris. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, joins Musk in the top $200 billion group, and similarly has high personal and business interests related to government policies and programs. His aerospace company Blue Origin is a direct rival of Musk’s SpaceX.
However, Bezos seems to like gambling more than playing the winning horse.
His Amazon.com PAC has given about $769,000, which has been split almost evenly, with $386,000 going to Democrats and $383,000 to Republicans in this year’s federal elections, according to Open Secrets.
However, when you have large media platforms, the most important contributions are not always monetary. As Musk’s detractors say he uses his X media channel as a right-wing mouthpiece, Bezos is currently in damage control mode after he banned his Washington Post newspaper from announce the cultural editor’s approval, which he was willing to give. Harris.
Harris: $228,490
Trump: N/A
Summary: $15,587,066
More than 99% of the $526,819 that Netflix’s state and file gave the state election in 2024 went to Democrats, but in modern politics, half a million dollars or more is a drop in the bucket. According to the standard, the real money for Netflix did not come from the people, but from the PAC.
On Sept. 30, media reported that MAGA loyalists were canceling their Netflix subscriptions after the company’s chairman, Reed Hastings, announced a $7 million donation to Harris’ campaign. . Real critics quickly debunked those reports. Hastings — a Democratic mega-donor who the New York Times says has contributed more than $20 million to party causes in the past few years alone — did not give $7 million to Harris. He gave it to the pro-Harris Republican Accountability PAC. That was the largest single donation to Netflix in 2024, but Democratic Senate and House PACs also enjoyed contributions from seven individuals.
Harris: $1,104,286
Trump: $22,731
Summary: $3,660,846
More than 89% of political donations from Meta, Facebook’s parent company, went to Democratic causes and candidates so far in 2024. Although Harris’ political campaign took the highest fee in more than $ 1.1 million – almost a third of all donations from. corporate workers – GOP causes have taken the No. 2 and no. 3.
Considering Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s numerous past donations, $3.66 million is an anemic figure. On Sept. 27, the New York Times reported that “Mark Zuckerberg is done with politics.” The article explained how Zuckerberg stopped supporting many of the liberal causes he had been supporting with his incredible wealth. His detractors accuse him of the same thing they accused Jeff Bezos of when he pulled the endorsement of the Washington Post — of approving Trump’s fears. However, donations are only one way in which the billionaire heads of international corporations draw power to their interests.
While Meta gave only $3.66 million in individual and PAC contributions, it spent $13.56 million on lobbying in 2024 and $19.3 million in 2023.
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise noted, all figures come from OpenSecrets, a non-profit campaign for transparency.
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