Sheldon Adelson Gives $25 Million To GOP Senate Super-PAC

GOP megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson poured $25 million into a super-PAC supporting Senate Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records filed Monday.

The super-PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, supports candidates like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Joni Ernst of Iowa. It raised $30.2 million last month, 83% of which came from the Adelsons. The Las Vegas power couple has now given more than $100 million to the Senate Leadership Fund since 2016. Ahead of the 2018 midterms, the super-PAC spent more than $20 million to run ads opposing Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who ultimately lost her seat to Republican Josh Hawley in the election.

The $25 million gift appears to be the largest contribution the Adelsons have made this year, but it’s right in line with their past donations. The Adelsons spent over $120 million on federal political causes in 2018 and more than $80 million in 2016.

To the Adelsons, that’s pocket change. They typically earn about $250 million in dividends (post-tax) from publicly traded casino and resort company Las Vegas Sands every three months.

While the couple did not get behind Trump early in the 2016 election, they ended up giving $5 million to the president’s inaugural committee, said to be the biggest donation of its kind in history. In November 2018, Miriam Adelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump, a move that prompted former government ethics chief Walter Shaub to declare on Twitter, “Every bit of government is for sale in the Trump Administration. Every last bit.”

The Adelsons also donated $580,600 to Trump Victory, the president’s joint fundraising committee with the RNC, maxing out the legal contribution limit to the group in February.