Kathmandu. As the date of the American mid-term elections approaches, the rich and billionaires are giving donations to political parties and candidates. From Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to the heads of the technology sector, international media have mentioned that billions of dollars are being donated to make this election the most expensive ever.
Mid-term elections are held right in the middle of the four-year term of the American president, i.e. after the completion of two years. Representatives of the Federal Parliament are being elected in this election to be held on November 3. It is seen as a referendum to understand the public’s reaction to the current president’s work style.
The news organization AFP analyzed the data of the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) and noted that the top 15 biggest donors in the election have donated more than 1 billion 500 million dollars.
In a conversation with AFP, Michael Beckel, director of the non-profit organization “Issue One”, responded that this election is becoming the most expensive midterm election in American history. According to him, technology and cryptocurrency sector donors are pouring significant amount of money into politics so that it will be easier to make their own policies in the future.
Regarding the donation of billionaire Elon Musk, different media have presented different details of his donation. According to AFP, Musk has contributed more than 365 million dollars so far for this election.
On the other hand, the technology-focused media “Wired” analyzed data from the Election Commission and noted that Musk has given a total of more than 445 million dollars to Republican supporter groups. According to Emily Birnbaum, a corporate lobbying reporter for Bloomberg Television, Musk’s contribution is the largest single donation in the history of any midterm election.
Just a few years ago, Elon Musk said he would leave the Republican Party. But now he has donated the most to show support for this party,” says Emily. “It will either supercharge the Republican race at the end of the day or it will likely do nothing to save the Republicans.”
According to Wired, Musk’s private political committee ‘America Pack’ spent more than 76 million dollars in the first two weeks of October. In particular, this committee has poured 152 million dollars into the Texas Senate race. Of this, $1.4 million has been spent against Democratic candidate James Talarico and $2.8 million in support of Republican candidate Ken Paxton.
Criticizing Musk’s aggressive financial intervention, Democratic candidate Talarico said, “There is a serious weakness in our political system that allows a billionaire to buy his own personal US senator.” Wired also wrote that Democratic lawmakers have warned of a parliamentary investigation into Musk’s affiliated companies and government contracts regarding Musk’s role.
AFP has detailed how the top donors are dominated by the technology and cryptocurrency sectors. According to AFP, 5 of the 15 largest donors are from the technology, AI and crypto sectors.
Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Benjamin Horowitz alone have spent more than $113 million. Of this, $50 million has been given to AI supporter ‘Leading the Future’ and $46.8 million to crypto super pack ‘FairSec’. Crypto exchange Coinbase and its CEO Brian Armstrong donated $57 million, and Ripple Labs and its co-founder Chris Larson donated more than $68 million, AFP reported.
According to the British news organization “The Guardian”, the technology industry and its leaders have spent a total of more than half a billion dollars to influence the 2026 election.
Journalist Nick Robbins-Early’s news in The Guardian, “How Tech Became the Villain of the US Middle Ages,” mentions that the “Leading the Future” pack, formed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and Marc Andreessen, has raised more than $75 million. Anthropic has raised over $40 million for Brad Carson’s Public First Action and over $15 million for Guardrails Alliance, according to The Guardian.
Al Jazeera and The Guardian have separately reported on the expenses incurred in opposition to Proposition 40, a proposal to impose a 5 percent wealth tax on billionaires in California. Al Jazeera has mentioned that US billionaires such as Sergey Brin, Tony Shu, Patrick Kokison, Chris Larson, John Doerr, Michael Moritz and Vinod Khosla have raised more than 300 million dollars to defeat this tax proposal.
In comparison, the supporters of the tax have managed to raise only 32 million dollars. Al Jazeera has also revealed that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, has put before the board a plan to buy a house outside of California to avoid paying taxes. Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, Google co-founder Sergey Brin alone has contributed at least 102 million dollars in opposition to this tax proposal.
AFP has raised questions about the use of “dark money” coming from opaque or unknown sources for election expenses. Four non-profit organizations, whose names are not required to be disclosed, are among the top 15 donors. The pro-Republican group ‘One Nation’ has given more than 138 million dollars to the Senate Leadership Fund and the ‘American Action Network’ has given more than 604 million dollars.
On the other hand, Democratic supporter “House Majority Forward” has contributed 95 million dollars and “Majority Forward” has contributed 100 million dollars. “The cost of black rice is increasing every year,” writes AFP, citing Shana Potters, a senior legal adviser at the Campaign Legal Center. Voters should know who is investing in the advertisements they see.
About the expenses of the former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg Television said that he plans to spend 80 million dollars to support the Democrats in September and October. According to AFP, as of October 21, his official donation is $56 million.
According to CNBC correspondent Luke Fountain, 14 of the top 20 donors have mostly given their support entirely to Republican candidates or outside groups affiliated with them. Republicans lead on foreign spending. For example, Trump’s “Maga Ink Super Pack” alone has spent more than 275 million dollars. But the Democrats are ahead in the collection of direct donations received by individual candidates.
Donors in the technology, AI, and cryptocurrency sectors are donating heavily to political candidates who want to loosen government regulations on their industries and create favorable policies, the media reported. Some billionaires are said to be spending aggressively on election campaigns to avoid additional taxes on their wealth and to stop taxing policies.
Billionaires like Musk are supporting Republican candidates to protect their companies and government contracts like SpaceX and Tesla from parliamentary scrutiny or regulation.
“If the Democrats win the House of Representatives, it seems that the lawmakers who are running for the leadership of the House Committee will investigate Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency (Dodge), the federal contracts that his company has received and the conflict of interest that California Democrat Rep. Joe Lofgren has commented on as surprising,” Wared wrote.