Recent campaign finance disclosures filed late Thursday and early Friday provide new insights into the influence of substantial donations and expectations on the final phase of the 2024 presidential election.
The upcoming election cycle is anticipated to be the most expensive in history, with the candidate who raises the most funds typically emerging victorious. However, this expectation did not hold true in the 2024 presidential race, even though President Biden and Vice President Harris’s campaign generated a record amount of money.
Trump leverages super PAC support to outmaneuver Harris in a high-stakes election
A factor in this outcome was President-elect Trump’s decision to delegate his canvassing efforts to super PACs backed by affluent supporters, including several billionaires slated to hold positions in his administration. Since endorsing Trump in July after an assassination attempt, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has contributed over a quarter of a billion dollars to support the new president.
According to new filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Musk has donated a total of $238.5 million to his pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC, which played a crucial role in mobilizing voters in key battleground states. Additional filings reveal that Musk also contributed $23.5 million to two other super PACs supporting Trump.
Unlike regular campaign committees, super PACs can amass and spend unlimited funds. Although they are prohibited from coordinating with campaigns, the FEC relaxed rules regarding coordination on canvassing this spring in response to a request from a Democratic committee.
Trump’s strategy to rely on super PACs, including America PAC, appears to have been a successful gamble for him. It has also benefited Musk, who is set to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” aimed at reducing federal spending and government size.
On October 25, the Elon Musk Revocable Trust made a $20.5 million donation to RBG PAC, a super PAC that spent nearly the same amount on digital media defending Trump’s stance on abortion in battleground states.
Formed on October 16, the day final reports were due to the FEC, RBG PAC, named seemingly in homage to the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, raised questions about its funding sources, which remained undisclosed until 30 days post-election.
Clara Spera, Ginsburg’s granddaughter, publicly criticized the “appalling” advertisements, stating that RBG PAC “has no connection to the Ginsburg family and is an affront to my late grandmother’s legacy.”
Moreover, Musk donated $3 million to the MAHA Alliance, a super PAC that ran ads in swing states encouraging supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to back Trump. Kennedy exited the presidential race in August and subsequently endorsed Trump, while MAHA references his “Make America Healthy Again” slogan.
Musk’s financial contributions to support Trump in the 2024 election are not unique, as several other wealthy individuals have also made substantial donations and secured key positions in the upcoming administration.
Trump’s choice for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, the CEO of the investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, made an “in-kind” donation of nearly $3 million in stock to MAGA Inc., the primary pro-Trump super PAC, according to the latest FEC filings.
This contribution is in addition to Lutnick’s previous donations totaling $6 million to MAGA Inc. from December 2023 to August 2024, as reported by the FEC. Several billionaire nominees for the Trump administration also donated over $1 million to MAGA Inc. during the 2024 election cycle.
These include Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary and founder of the Key Square Group investment firm, who contributed a total of $1 million; former Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who donated nearly $2 million and was chosen by Trump for the Small Business Administration; and Linda McMahon, who contributed nearly $20.3 million as Trump’s Education Secretary nominee.
As of November 25, the Harris campaign reported raising nearly $1.2 billion, surpassing Biden’s record-breaking total of nearly $1.1 billion from the same period in 2020.
By the end of June, approximately $312.3 million of the total amount had been raised, just prior to Biden exiting the ticket after a poor debate performance and endorsing Harris as his successor. As of November 25, the campaign had only $1.8 million in cash on hand.
The Trump campaign raised $477.1 million during the 2024 election and had nearly $9.9 million in cash available as of November 25, according to the FEC report filed Thursday. Throughout the 2024 election, Trump’s campaign spent $462.4 million, an extraordinary figure but still less than the spending by the Harris campaign.
The repercussions of Harris’s defeat and her campaign expenses, which included a controversial $1 million payment to Oprah Winfrey’s production company, created tension within the Democratic Party. Her loss initiated a period of reflection among Democrats, who are now grappling with accountability for the party’s shortcomings in the 2024 election.
Following Trump’s victory declaration, Democratic National Committee (DNC) official Lindy Li took to cable news to label Harris’s presidential bid a “$1 billion disaster,” asserting that donors had been “misled” about her chances of winning. Political polling indicated a close race, and Harris had successfully raised substantial funds when she ascended to the Democratic ticket.
Though her candidacy seemed to reinvigorate the base, Harris faced a daunting challenge: reintroducing herself to millions of Americans just a few years after her own run in the 2020 presidential primary and persuading voters to support her in a matter of months.
Now, Democrats acknowledge that they face challenges related to brand and messaging, as exit polls from CNN showed voters considered the economy the second most critical issue (32 percent), following democracy (34 percent). As scrutiny intensifies regarding the Harris campaign’s financial management, it comes just under two months before party members select their next DNC chair.
