CNN —
Elon Musk in October funneled nearly $44 million to a super PAC working to return Donald Trump to the White House, adding billionaires to the group he founded to benefit the former president. has totaled nearly $119 million in donations, new campaign finance reports show.
The last-minute spending spree by the world’s richest man comes as Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, continues to surpass the former president in fundraising, raising about $97 million. That’s six times the amount Trump raised in his first 16 days. According to a report the campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission late Thursday night.
But both candidates and their coordinated political campaigns have ramped up spending this month, burning through more than $500 million combined in the first half of October as they jockey for advantage ahead of Election Day.
Key points from the submissions include:
Harris’ primary campaign committee spent nearly $166 million between October 1 and 16, more than the $99.7 million Trump campaign spent during the same period. Approximately $130 million of Harris’ campaign spending went to media expenses.
And the breakneck fundraising pace Harris set since she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket in late July has given her even more financial cushion in the final stages of the campaign. The roughly $119 million left in her campaign’s coffers is more than three times the amount President Trump had.
And data from AdImpact, which tracks political ads, highlights how Ms. Harris has leveraged that economic advantage onto airwaves in battleground states. Her campaign has spent about $488 million on advertising since President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, including ads scheduled to run through Election Day. By contrast, Trump spent about $284 million during the same period.
Musk also supports President Trump and Senate Republican candidates
Mr. Musk emerged as a key business figure in this year’s election, taking on an unusual vote-getting campaign on Mr. Trump’s behalf in key battleground states, even though the former president has largely ceded that role to outside groups. It’s here. Musk recently came under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice after offering a glitzy $1 million daily giveaway to voters in battleground states.
The tech mogul made four donations totaling $43.6 million to his America PAC in the first half of October, according to new filings. He also cut checks totaling $12.3 million to other super PACs that primarily support Republican efforts to take control of the Senate.
Before this election, the Tesla CEO and X owner had made relatively small contributions to federal candidates supporting a mix of Democrats and Republicans. However, he has been deeply involved in helping Trump win the presidential election, and is campaigning alongside Republican candidates.
Musk’s super PAC attracted other donors in October, according to Thursday’s filing. Billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz donated $1 million to America PAC, and members of the Michigan-based DeVos family, including President Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, also made six-figure contributions.
Other big donors supporting Mr. Trump include Midwest packaging magnate Richard Uihlein, who this month announced a massive spending spree to support Mr. Trump’s candidacy. He gave another $6.5 million to the PAC, the Restoration PAC. Uihlein, whose family helped found Schlitz Brewing, has long supported conservative and anti-establishment candidates and has emerged as one of the biggest donors to pro-Trump efforts this term. There is.
In October, Mr. Uihlein’s wife, Elizabeth, donated $3 million to another pro-Trump group, Preserve America. Most of the group’s funding comes from Miriam Adelson, a billionaire doctor and widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Ronald Cameron, who oversees poultry giant Mountaire Farms, donated $2 million to Preserve America.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum donated $5 million worth of stock to social media giant Meta to Make America Great Again, a major super PAC supporting President Trump. He became one of the latest technology figures to support the Trump campaign. The submitted documents show. He previously donated to a super PAC supporting Nikki Haley, who unsuccessfully won the Republican presidential nomination.
MAGA also received $1 million each from Warren Stevens, an Arkansas-based investor, and Woody Johnson, a pharmaceutical heir who co-owned the New York Jets and served as President Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. Received.
Top donors to Future Forward, the super PAC supporting Harris, include Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz, who donated $25 million to the group in early October. , total donations to the group totaled $38 million.
But a significant portion of the roughly $90 million raised by pro-Harris super PACs during this period ($40 million total) came from the nonprofit arm of Future Forward, whose donors are undisclosed. The identities of some donors are hidden from the public. Harris supporters.
The new filing also shows that former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who broke with her fellow Republicans to support Harris, is not just campaigning with the vice president. On October 8, Mr. Cheney’s political action committee, “Our Great Commission,” donated $2.5 million to American Bridge 21st Century, an influential Democratic investigative and rapid response group working to support Ms. Harris.
Even as Trump raises money for his presidential campaign, his political campaign continues to pay for the former president’s legal costs.
Records show that between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16, the former president’s leadership PAC, Save America, spent $3.9 million on “legal consulting.” Most of the money, about $3.3 million, went to Robert & Robert. The firm’s principal, Clifford Robert, was one of the lawyers who represented Mr. Trump in his appeal of a civil fraud judgment in New York.
