The Billionaires Who Won Or Lost Big On Election Night 2020—So Far

By Angel Au-Yeung, Deniz Cam, Chase Peterson-Withorn, Michela Tindera

While we don’t yet know who will win the presidency—and which of the 250-plus billionaires and spouses who donated to Trump or Biden will emerge victorious—a handful of clear billionaire winners and losers of Election Day 2020 have already emerged.

Some of these ultrarich political donors got their preferred candidate elected or helped propel or kill ballot initiatives in their home states. Others spent big on their own failed political runs or pumped big money into failed races. One billionaire, West Virginia’s Jim Justice, won his own election, seizing a second term as governor.

Here are the most notable billionaire winners and losers of Election Day 2020—so far:

Winners

Jim Justice

One of the early winners of Election Day, West Virginia’s only billionaire secured a second term as the state’s governor, beating his opponent by a double-digit margin even though all votes have not been counted, according to the Associated Press. Justice, 69, raised $1.8 million for his campaign and loaned himself another $2 million, or 2% of his $1.2 billion estimated net worth. The coal-mining mogul ran as a Democrat in 2016, but switched parties six months into his term. A Forbes investigation in April 2019 revealed that Justice had avoided taxes and large bills since he became governor and has been hit with over $10 million in court orders and $13 million in tax-related liens. At the time, Justice told Forbes he was getting right with all his creditors and that he was owed money as well. Justice, who inherited a coal business from his father, still owns coal mines in five states plus the iconic Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.

Sheldon Adelson

The GOP mega-donor spent big on keeping the Senate red, pumping $60 million into the Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC supporting GOP senators. He also gave $1 million to a super-PAC supporting the reelection of Lindsey Graham, who handily beat his well-funded opponent last night. Adelson was one of 15 billionaires and billionaire spouses who poured money into the PAC, Forbes found. The largest billionaire donors to the group were Adelson ($1 million), Frank VanderSloot ($300,000), Larry Ellison ($250,000), Donald Friese ($250,000) and Laura Perlmutter ($250,000), who is married to Marvel Comics tycoon Ike Perlmutter.  

Reed Hastings & Patty Quillin

The Netflix cofounder and CEO’s wife, Patty Quillin, was one of the biggest political donors to California propositions this year, giving a total of $4.7 million to five of the 12 statewide propositions that were up for a vote. Her largest donation: $2 million to fight Proposition 20, which if approved would have made it more difficult for convicted felons to qualify for early parole. So far, 62.3% of California voters agree with Quillin’s position, marking a likely victory for Hastings and Quillin. She also gave a quarter of a million dollars to support Proposition 17, giving parolees in the state the right to vote, which so far has won 59% of the vote. However, other props that she supported are not faring as well. She gave $1 million toward the passage of Proposition 16, which would repeal the state’s ban on affirmative action; so far, 56.1% of voters are rejecting the measure. Quillin also gave $750,000 to support Proposition 25, which would replace the state’s cash bail system with a risk-based algorithm. With 55.4% of voters rejecting, it is unlikely to pass.

Losers

Mark Zuckerberg

The Facebook founder’s philanthropic and advocacy arms—the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC and the Chan Zuckerberg Institute—spent an astounding $14.6 million to support a single measure: Proposition 15, which would increase property taxes on businesses (including Facebook) in order to raise billions for schools and local government. With nearly 11.6 million votes counted, it is narrowly losing, with 51.7% of voters rejecting the commercial property tax hike. But Zuckerberg’s second largest spend is faring better. His Chan Zuckerberg Initiative put nearly $2.3 million into fighting Proposition 20, joining Hastings and Quillin in its donor ranks. With about 70% of votes counted, voters are rejecting that measure so far.

Steve & Connie Ballmer

The former Microsoft chief executive and his wife gave to two criminal and social justice-minded propositions, both of which are projected to lose. Steve and Connie each gave $3 million to support the passage of Proposition 25, which would abolish the state’s cash bail system and replace it with a risk-based algorithm. So far, 55.4% of voters are rejecting the proposition. The couple also gave $500,000 million each to Proposition 16, which would repeal the state’s ban on affirmative action; it is also projected to lose.

Michael Bloomberg

No matter who wins the presidency, the Bloomberg LP cofounder and former New York City mayor is out a lot of money. Bloomberg spent an astounding $1.1 billion of his fortune on his presidential campaign, which he shut down after notching only one win on Super Tuesday (the territory of American Samoa). Then he promised to spend more than $100 million to support Biden in Florida, Texas and Ohio—all states that Donald Trump is projected to win.

Kanye West

The rapper-turned-candidate jumped into the race late and only appeared on the ballots in 12 states—despite giving more than $10 million of his own money to his campaign. As of Wednesday morning, he had won just 60,000 votes out of about 160 million ballots cast. West conceded on Tuesday night in a since-deleted tweet: “WELP KANYE 2024.”