Citadel’s Ken Griffin and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman.
Photos, from left: Aaron Kotowski for Forbes; Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Election denier Ted Budd is facing off against Democrat Cheri Beasley in a contest that could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. Billionaires are lining up to support Budd, even though some of them barely know his name.
Ted Budd, the Republican running for senate in North Carolina, isn’t much of a national figure. His race, however, has national importance, as one of the few senate contests seen as a tossup in this year’s midterm elections. No wonder tycoons from across the country are funneling millions of dollars through super PACs to support Budd, one of the 147 Republicans that voted against certifying President Biden’s election.
The biggest donors are familiar names. Richard Uihlein, the Illinois-based packaging billionaire, donated $29 million to a group named Club For Growth Action, which, in turn, pumped $7.7 million into efforts to support Budd, roughly 13% of its spending so far. Trading titan Jeff Yass, of Pennsylvania, put $16.5 million into Club For Growth Action, making him another one of Budd’s biggest backers.
Other well-known donors injected money into the race via a Republican super PAC called the Senate Leadership Fund. Miami-based trading tycoon Ken Griffin and New York private equity pioneer Stephen Schwarzman each gave that group $20 million. Illinois insurer Patrick Ryan donated another $14 million alongside his wife, Shirley. Las Vegas heiress Miriam Adelson, whose late husband Sheldon was once the biggest GOP donor in America, gave $10 million. In all, 18 billionaires–none from North Carolina–contributed 43% of the money sitting in the Senate Leadership Fund. The group has doled out $29 million, or 16% of its expenditures, to support Budd, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.
That’s not to say all of the fund’s donors necessarily like being associated with an election denier. Schwarzman publicly supported the certification of President Biden’s election in November 2020 and spoke out against the Capitol riot in January 2021, while maintaining, in a letter to Schwarzman Scholars that was published in the New York Times, that Congressional “objectors were acting legally under the Constitution.” Griffin was among the largest donors to President Biden’s inaugural committee.
California’s Larry Ellison, the cofounder of Oracle, backed Budd via a third route, giving $30 million to a super PAC called Opportunity Matters. That group then spent $1.5 million supporting the senate candidate and transferred $5 million apiece to two other super PACs: the Senate Leadership Fund and Opportunity Matters Fund Action, both of which also spent money supporting Budd.
Other rich people gave more modest sums. At least 34 billionaires and their spouses donated to Budd’s campaign, some giving through joint-fundraising committees, which allow famous politicians to raise large sums and then share the money with lesser-known allies. “I’ve never heard of Ted Bud,” said Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who gave $2,233 to the North Carolina candidate via a joint-fundraising committee connected to Texas Senator John Cornyn. “I gave money to John Cornyn [and he] passes it on to whoever he wants. You will not see a check anywhere from me to this gentleman.”
Budd’s opponent, Democrat Cheri Beasley–the state’s former top judge, who is seeking to become North Carolina’s first Black U.S. Senator–has gotten some love from billionaires as well. She received campaign contributions from at least 23 billionaires and their spouses, including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, all-American fashion icon Ralph Lauren and hedge fund pioneer George Soros. But donations that go directly to candidates are capped at $2,900, and few of Beasley’s billionaire donors are using super PACs to shell out bigger sums.