[US Election 2024] Musk Supports Trump, Bill Gates Backs Harris... An Unprecedented 'War of Money'

"The Most Expensive Election in U.S. History"
Examining Billionaire Big Spenders' Political Donations

"Elon Musk (Tesla CEO) is Donald Trump, Bill Gates (Microsoft (MS) founder) is Kamala Harris."

The U.S. presidential election is literally known as a 'war of money,' with lobbying funds in the trillions of won flowing around. This is because there is no limit on donations through super PACs (special political action committees), making it possible to contribute astronomical amounts. Especially, this year's November 5 election is expected to be 'the most expensive election in U.S. history' as Democratic candidate Vice President Harris and Republican candidate former President Trump engage in a neck-and-neck race until the very end. Who are the major backers supporting them?

'The Battle of Billionaires' in the U.S. Election

According to major foreign media citing data from the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) on the 28th (local time), the election funds secured by the Harris camp and super PACs (including the Biden-Harris camp) up to mid-this month are estimated at about $2.15 billion (approximately 2.98 trillion won). Of this, about 6%, or $390 million, was donated by billionaires. During the same period, the Trump camp and super PACs raised about $1.68 billion (approximately 2.33 trillion won). Former President Trump relied much more heavily on super PACs involving major business figures. Approximately 40% of the political funds he can use in this election were secured from billionaires.

Major foreign media reported, "At least 144 of the 800 U.S. billionaires listed by Forbes are using their wealth to influence this election," describing this year's U.S. election as a 'battle of billionaires.'

The amount of donations confirmed to have been made by billionaires supporting the two candidates' camps during this election period is at least $695 million (about 960 billion won), accounting for about 18% of the total amount. Considering that donations to nonprofit organizations usually do not clearly identify donors, the actual amount of billionaire donations is estimated to be much higher. According to The New York Times (NYT), Gates recently privately disclosed that he donated $50 million (about 69.3 billion won) to a nonprofit supporting Vice President Harris, but due to the organization's policy of not officially confirming donor identities, this cannot be verified in various financial records.

Billionaires Supporting Harris

Prominent billionaires officially confirmed to have donated to Vice President Harris so far include Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook; Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn; and Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City. Hoffman, who stands with Vice President Harris in a Silicon Valley divided in half, is traditionally considered a major Democratic donor. He donated $10 million to the super PAC Future Forward and $6 million to a Republican accountability PAC that promotes criticism of former Trump supporters.

Moskovitz, with a net worth of $15 billion, also donated $38 million to a super PAC supporting Vice President Harris and over $1 million to Harris-supporting organizations. Bloomberg, who has previously criticized former President Trump, also donated to the Democratic Party when Biden was the candidate. Although no additional donations from Bloomberg have been confirmed in recently released records, the NYT reported that Bloomberg, along with Gates, discussed donating several million dollars to Vice President Harris's camp. Local media also noted that Bloomberg, with a net worth exceeding 100 billion won, tends to make large donations toward the end of the presidential election.

Additionally, Alex Soros, son of Wall Street billionaire George Soros and chairman of the Open Society Foundations; Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix; and Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, are also cited as prominent supporters of Vice President Harris. Forbes reported, "Among the billionaires supporting Vice President Harris, there are many emerging, IT, and female billionaires." However, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post (WP), is understood to have effectively turned away recently by instructing WP to withdraw its support for Vice President Harris.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla
Photo by AFP Yonhap News

Musk, Mellon, and Others Support Trump

On the other hand, the most famous billionaire supporting former President Trump is Elon Musk, Tesla CEO. After the shooting incident involving former President Trump during a Pennsylvania rally, Musk officially declared his support and appeared at Trump's New York rally the day before to urge support. Ranked as the world's richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he established the super PAC 'America PAC' supporting Trump and attracted attention by holding a large lottery event that selects one registered voter daily in key battleground states to award $1 million until the election. As of mid-October, donations through America PAC are estimated to exceed $118 million.

Another major donor is Timothy Mellon. A wealthy banker family scion, Mellon donated $150 million to the super PAC MAGA supporting former President Trump. Major foreign media reported this accounts for about 45% of the total donations. Miriam Adelson, wife of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is also a fervent Trump supporter who donated over $100 million to Trump-supporting PACs. After her husband's death, Miriam inherited an estate with a net worth exceeding $34 billion. Former President Trump awarded her the Presidential Medal in 2018. Additionally, Liz and Dick Uihlein, founders of the transportation company Uline, donated $10 million to MAGA supporting former President Trump.

Locally, there is analysis that the presence of billionaires is growing due to the structural political environment in the U.S., where reliance on high-value donors is increasingly unavoidable. Because the unique federal tradition requires enormous costs to maintain the election system, large donors are essential. Moreover, while official candidate campaigns have limits on individual donations, super PACs and political organizations have no such limits. According to OpenSecrets, 20 years ago in the 2004 U.S. election, there were only 23 donors who contributed more than $1 million in political funds.