The Billions Behind The 2024 Presidential Election
by Kyle Khan-Mullins · ForbesA billionaire and a multimillionaire face off in a polarizing election that is pitting the richest people in America against one another. Here’s all you need to know about the money behind the record-setting race.
By Kyle Khan-Mullins and John Hyatt, Forbes Staff
The 2024 election will go down as the most expensive in U.S. history, with a projected $15.9 billion in spending across all federal races, eclipsing the 2020 record of $15.1 billion and making 2016’s $6.5 billion look downright paltry. At the center of it all is a record-setting presidential race. Kamala Harris’ campaign committee and outside PACs have raised $1.6 billion, besting Trump’s $1.1 billion. Even before the final tallies are in, their combined $2.7 billion haul already beats the $2 billion raised for Trump and Biden in 2020, and dwarfs the $1.2 billion raised in 2016 for Trump and Clinton.
Harris has plenty of big money behind her. Forbes counts at least 135 three-comma-club members who have backed Harris or Trump this cycle: 83 for Harris, 52 for Trump. Harris is backed by Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Laurene Powell Jobs and Melinda French Gates, the first two of whom have given $50 million apiece in support of her campaign. Trump, meanwhile, has gotten nearly a quarter of a billion dollars from just two backers: Timothy Mellon, who gave more than $100 million, a full 10% of his estimated $1 billion net worth and Elon Musk, who has pumped over $120 million into pro-Trump PACs.
Trump breaks his own record as the wealthiest general election presidential candidate of all time. (If you count primaries, Michael Bloomberg bested him in 2020.) Trump’s net worth briefly soared to more than $8 billion in October thanks to a wild surge in his publicly traded social-media business Truth Social. After Truth Social shares cooled off, his fortune is back down to under $6 billion today. Harris’ net worth is 0.1% of Trump’s.
Here is everything you need to know about the money—and the moneyed—influencing the 2024 race.