“Battle of the billionaires: the mega rich spending to swing the US election”

FT:

A small number of billionaires could help swing the result of the US presidential election, as many of the world’s wealthiest spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help their preferred candidate win.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are running neck and neck in the final days before the vote, which is on track to be the most expensive in history. The candidates and allied groups had raised more than $3.8bn by mid-October.

A Financial Times analysis of campaign finance filings found billionaires have donated at least $695mn, or about 18 per cent, of the total money raised during this election cycle. Trump is particularly dependent on US elites, with about a third of the money raised by the campaign and allied groups coming from billionaires, compared to about 6 per cent of the funds raised by Harris-aligned groups. From January 2023 to mid-October 2024, groups supporting Joe Biden and Harris outraised pro-Trump groups by $2.2bn to $1.7bn.

Overall, at least 144 people on the list of about 800 US billionaires compiled by Forbes are using their wealth to sway the 2024 election.

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