The nation’s wealthy opened their wallets in August with an eye on the election season, donating millions to super PACs supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Democrats and Republicans across the country, according to monthly reports filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission.
The largest individual donations went to MAGA Inc., the super PAC that supports Trump, while Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks, a prolific GOP megadonor, donated $10 million to the group.
Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, and Paul Singer, the president of Elliott Management, an asset manager, each donated $5 million to MAGA Inc.
Annette Caldwell Simmons, the widow of businessman Harold Simmons, donated $2 million to MAGA Inc., while Warren Stephens, the CEO of investment bank Stephens Inc., donated $1 million.
On the Democratic side, tech entrepreneurs were the biggest donors to FF PAC, also known as Future Forward, a super PAC that supported Harris’ presidential campaign.
The group’s largest donors in August were Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, and Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and his wife Erica.
Moskovitz donated $3 million to FF PAC, while Hastings, Jeff Lawson and Erica Lawson each donated $1 million.
Hastings, a strong Democratic supporter, was one of the biggest Democratic donors who publicly called for President Joe Biden to withdraw from his re-election campaign earlier this year.
The reports released Friday only included donations from Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, the first full month that Harris was the presumptive — and later official — Democratic presidential nominee.
Super PACs like FF PAC and MAGA Inc. are havens for big political donors like Hendricks, Lutnick and Hastings. Unlike campaigns and their affiliated committees, super PACs don’t have limits on how much people can donate.
Further down the ballot, Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC that supports Republican congressional and Senate candidates, received two large donations of $5 million each in August from Jeff Yass, the co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, a trading group, and Richard Uihlein, the founder of shipping company Uline.
Yass and Uihlein are both major GOP megadonors who have given to Club for Growth and other conservative groups during multiple election cycles.
On the Democratic side, House Majority PAC, a group that supports Democrats running for Congress, received $600,000 in August from Continental Cablevision co-founder Amos Hostetter Jr., the largest donation to the group during this period.
Hostetter has donated money to anti-Trump groups in the past.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
