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Does money talk to your voting for "the quality of their policies” or “the quality of their leadership? "
Exactly for you, all boiled down to "what is in there for you?" Vote for yourself, not follow billionaires below—it’s about what aligns with your own interests, needs, and values. Billionaires may back candidates who represent their business or social priorities, but those aren’t necessarily in line with what you want. At the end of the day, vote for what benefits you, your community, and your future. Following a billionaire’s vote won’t necessarily get you closer to that; focusing on what truly matters to you will.
Money indeed seems to “talk” when it comes to voting influence, especially as we see billionaires and high-profile donors play crucial roles in shaping the political landscape through financial backing. For example, prominent billionaires like Larry Ellison and Ken Griffin have historically supported Republican candidates and causes. However, this election cycle sees some hesitation, with Griffin noting his conflict with the quality of current candidates’ policies and leadership. Despite past donations, both have opted for restraint, highlighting the complex interplay between personal values and candidate support.
On the other side, Vice President Harris has garnered considerable support from a coalition of 81 or more billionaires, including prominent figures like Michael Bloomberg and Reid Hoffman. This significant financial backing signals confidence in Harris’s candidacy and aligns with the political and social interests of her supporters, such as those invested in technology, media, and finance. High-profile endorsements, like those from Steven Spielberg and Sheryl Sandberg, can extend beyond financial impact, amplifying support through their networks and public profiles.
Conversely, Trump’s camp has secured substantial financial contributions from billionaires such as Elon Musk and Miriam Adelson, with donations amounting to tens of millions. Musk, whose contributions rank him as one of the largest individual donors, highlights how such influential figures may leverage wealth to sway political discourse and voter sentiment.
Thus, while each of these individuals retains personal voting power, the significant financial contributions they direct toward campaigns illustrate how, for billionaires, voting is not merely an individual act but a broad exercise in shaping the electoral landscape through financial influence.
Larry Ellison and Ken Griffin: Ellison and Griffin are perhaps the most surprising billionaires who have stayed quiet in the final months of the presidential election cycle considering both have donated millions to Republican causes in the past. Griffin (Citadel) confirmed Thursday he has not financially backed Trump, adding he’s “torn” and won’t vote with a “smile on my face” as both candidates aren’t “going to receive an award for the quality of their policies” or “the quality of their leadership.” Ellison (Oracle), the second-richest person on earth, had backed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), while Griffin, the 39th-wealthiest, had been a Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) supporter.
Which Billionaires Are Supporting Harris?
A total of 81 billionaires (or more) are backing Harris. Forbes identified these 28 billionaires who donated $1 million toward groups supporting Harris through August:
Michael Bloomberg, left, and Harris appear together in 2023.
Getty Images- Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons)
- Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg, former New York mayor)
- Neil Bluhm (Real estate)
- John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins)
- Amy Goldman Fowler (New York real estate)
- Avram Glazer (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
- Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn)
- Robert Hale, Jr. (Granite Telecommunications)
- Amos Hostetter, Jr. (Cable)
- Bruce Karsh (Oaktree Capital Management)
- Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures)
- Seth Klarman (Baupost)
- Henry Laufer (Renaissance Technologies)
- Stephen Mandel, Jr. (Lone Pine Capital)
- George Marcus (Marcus & Millichap)
- Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital)
- Dustin Moskovitz (Facebook)
- John Pritzker (Hyatt hotels)
- Haim Saban (Fox Family Channel)
- Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook)
- Eric Schmidt (Google)
- Lynn Schusterman (Samson Resources)
- David Shaw (D.E. Shaw)
- The late Jim Simons (Renaissance Technologies)
- Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer (Cargill)
- Steven Spielberg (Hollywood director)
- Thomas Steyer (Farallon Capital)
- Pat Stryker (Stryker Corp.)
The following 36 billionaires made between $50,000 and $999,999 in donations to groups supporting Harris through August, according to Forbes’ analysis of FEC data:
- David Blitzer (Blackstone)
- David Bonderman (TPG)
- Edythe Broad (Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation)
- Tory Burch (Tory Burch)
- Rick Caruso (Los Angeles real estate)
- James Chambers (Cox Enterprises)
- Robert Clark (Clayco)
- Barry Diller (IAC)
- Dagmar Dolby (Dolby Laboratories)
- Charles Ergen (DISH)
- John Fish (Suffolk Construction)
- Gordon Getty (Getty Oil)
- James Goodnight (SAS)
- Jonathan Gray (Blackstone)
- Thomas Hagen (Erie Indemnity)
- Reed Hastings (Netflix)
- Elizabeth Johnson (Fidelity Investments)
- Michael Krasny (Computer Discount Warehouse)
- Chris Larsen (Ripple)
- Marc Lasry (Avenue Capital Group)
- Theodore Leonsis (Washington Capitals, Mystics and Wizards)
- Daniel Och (Och-Ziff Capital Management)
- Mark Pincus (Zynga)
- Laurene Powell Jobs (Apple, gave about $900,000 to Harris Victory Fund last quarter)
- Katharine Rayner (Cox Enterprises)
- Stewart Resnick and Lynda Resnick (Wonderful Company)
- John Sall (SAS)
- Paul Sciarra (Pinterest)
- George Soros (Soros Fund Management)
- Jonathan Tisch and Laurie Tisch (Loews Corporation)
- Todd Wagner (Broadcast.com)
- Christy Walton (Walmart)
- Elaine Wynn (Wynn Resorts)
- Dirk Ziff (Ziff Davis).
Bloomberg reported these additional four billionaires have donated to Harris’ election funds or groups supporting Harris’ election:
- Melinda French Gates (Microsoft, gave about $900,000 to Harris Victory Fund last quarter)
- Joe Gebbia (Airbnb)
- Hamilton James (Blackstone)
- Margot Perot (Ross Perot widow).
These six billionaires signed a Sept. 6 open letter supporting Harris:
- Mark Cuban (“Shark Tank” investor)
- José E. Feliciano (Clearlake Capital)
- Magic Johnson (NBA star and investor)
- Sean Parker (Facebook)
- Penny Pritzker (Hyatt hotels)
- Hamdi Ulukaya (Chobani).
(Updated Oct. 16): And these three billionaires donated to a Harris committee during the third quarter, according to FEC filings analyzed by The New York Times:
- Tim Draper (Bitcoin)
- J.B. Pritzker (Illinois governor)
- Tyler Perry (Filmmaker).
And there's music stars Bruce Springsteen, who backed Harris Oct. 3, and Taylor Swift, who endorsed Harris Sept. 10.
Which Billionaires Are Supporting Trump?
A total of 52 billionaires have been identified as Trump backers. Forbes identified in August these 26 billionaires who had donated at least $1 million toward Trump election efforts:
Musk, right, jumps on stage as he joins Trump at a Saturday rally.
AFP via Getty Images- Miriam Adelson (Las Vegas Sands Corp., gave $95 million during third quarter to Trump PAC)
- Don Ahern (Las Vegas construction)
- Andrew Beal (Beal Bank)
- George Bishop (GeoSouthern Energy oil driller)
- Timothy Dunn (Crownquest oil driller)
- Antonio Gracias (early Tesla investor)
- Diane Hendricks (ABC Supply construction)
- Robert “Woody” Johnson (New York Jets)
- (Updated Oct. 25): Jan Koum (WhatsApp)
- Richard Kurtz (real estate)
- Douglas Leone (Sequoia Capital)
- Jimmy John Liautaud (Jimmy John's sandwich shop)
- Jeff Sprecher (husband to former Sen. Kelly Loeffler)
- Bernard Marcus (Home Depot)
- Linda McMahon (WWE)
- Timothy Mellon (heir to old-money Mellon family)
- Geoffrey Palmer (Los Angeles real estate)
- Roger Penske (Penske Automotive Group)
- J. Joe Ricketts (Chicago Cubs)
- Phil Ruffin (Treasure Island Las Vegas)
- Kenny Troutt (horse racing)
- Elizabeth Uihlein and Richard Uihlein (Uline packaging, gave $49 million last quarter to Trump PAC)
- Kelcy Warren (Energy Transfer pipeliner)
- Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss (twin Gemini crypto exchange founders)
- Steve Wynn (Wynn Resorts).
Another 16 billionaires gave between $50,000 and $999,999 to groups supporting Trump through that period:
- John Catsimatidis (Gristedes)
- Gary Chouest (Edison Chouest Offshore)
- Ray Davis (Texas Rangers)
- Darwin Deason (Affiliated Computer Services)
- Tilman Fertitta (Houston Rockets)
- Harold Hamm (Continental Resources)
- Palmer Luckey (Oculus VR)
- John Paulson (Paulson & Co.)
- Edward Roski, Jr. (Majestic Realty)
- Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone)
- Thomas Siebel (Siebel Systems)
- Paul Singer (Elliott Management)
- Warren Stephens (Stephens Inc.)
- Terry Taylor (car dealerships)
- Stephen Winn (RealPage)
- William Wrigley, Jr. (Wrigley).
(Updated Oct. 16) The New York Times named the following three billionaires as donating at least $100,000 to Trump groups last quarter:
- Bill Ackman (Pershing Square Capital Management)
- Marc Andreesen (Andreessen Horowitz)
- Dan Snyder (former Washington Commanders owner)
And of course there’s Elon Musk (Tesla and SpaceX CEO), who gave $75 million last quarter to his pro-Trump America PAC, according to filings. He gave another $43.6 million to a pro-Trump committee from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16, becoming the second-most prolific donor in Trump’s camp this year, trailing only Adelson.
Other known Trump supporters include Jeff Hildebrand (Hilcorp), Isaac Perlmutter (Marvel Entertainment), Thomas Peterffy (Interactive Brokers) and Gary Rollins (Rollins Inc.), according to media reports and Bloomberg’s analysis of public election records last month.
(Updated Oct. 22): The New Yorker recently reported activist investor Nelson Peltz hosted a February fundraiser for Trump, where Peltz reportedly quipped Trump is “a terrible human being, but our country’s in a bad place, and we can’t afford Joe Biden.” Peltz has not made public comment since Biden ceded way to Harris, and his Trian Partners asset manager did not return a request for comment.
Tangent
A pair of other Wall Street billionaires have said the stock market is heavily leaning toward Trump in Daniel Loeb and Stanley Druckenmiller, though neither have publicly endorsed or made major donations toward a candidate. Fellow hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman told Fox Business he doesn’t plan to vote for either major candidate.
Kyle Khan-Mullins and Leo Kalmin contributed reporting.
