By Dawn Kopecki
NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Companies donated a record $646 million to U.S. political campaigns in the 18 months through June, 40% more than the total spent during the entire 2024 presidential election cycle, according to new data from watchdog group Public Citizen.
The spenders driving the surge include manufacturing conglomerate Koch Inc. and new entrants like online sports betting companies, which poured roughly $76 million into the November 3 midterm elections for candidates in both
parties. Big Tobacco and cannabis companies also donated heavily, largely to Republican candidates.
Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 that advocates against corporate spending in elections, analyzed Federal Election Commission filings, manually filtering the data for donations from corporate entities and weeding out duplicates from executives and their associated companies.
The total does not include donations to so-called dark money groups that also fund election campaigns but are not required to disclose their donors or total spending on state races, and will likely grow as the race for control of the U.S. House and Senate heats up in the final two months of the 2026 campaign.
"The rate at which corporate money is rushing into our elections should be a flashing warning sign," said Rick Claypool, a research director at Public Citizen. "This is something as a functioning democracy we need to get under control."
Corporate spending has ramped up quickly since the Supreme Court lifted donation and spending restrictions on political campaigns in 2010, allowing companies and wealthy individuals to give unlimited sums to independent political groups. Of the $1.7 billion companies have donated to U.S. elections since then, about a third of it has come in this election cycle.
Campaign finance watchdogs like Public Citizen argue that corporate spending allows niche interests to exert a disproportionate amount of influence on politics, though some First Amendment advocates say it is necessary to protect those rights in a democracy.
"It's part and parcel to a system that fully embraces free speech," said Tom Garrett, a vice president at the Institute for Free Speech. "All Americans have the right to express themselves and exercise their right to political speech to the fullest extent possible."
DONATIONS SURGE AMID FIGHT FOR CONGRESS
The data from Public Citizen showed a surge in donations to political action committees that support Republicans as the party struggles to hold on to control of the U.S. House and Senate. Political analyst Nate Silver places the odds of Democrats wresting control of the Senate at 57.2% and the House at 84%, according to his latest midterm forecast on Silver Bulletin.
Koch Inc., the privately held conglomerate controlled by Republican mega donor Charles Koch, gave $20 million in June to the family's own political action committee, Americans for Prosperity Action. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Tobacco company Reynolds American, maker of Camel and Newport cigarettes, donated $5 million through a subsidiary to U.S. President Donald Trump's super PAC MAGA Inc. in late April.
Six cannabis companies, including Curaleaf and Trulieve, gave a combined $11.5 million in June to America First Agriculture Action Inc., a super PAC that shares the same treasurer with MAGA Inc., Public Citizen's analysis of FEC data shows. Reynolds American, Curaleaf and Trulieve did not respond to requests for comment.
The filings show crypto entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss made a $10 million donation to MAGA Inc. through Gemini Trust Co. on June 19, about three weeks after the administration asked a federal judge to reverse a judgment against the company. Gemini didn't return requests for comment.
Among industries, the crypto industry still leads as the biggest corporate donor to U.S. elections, followed by online betting and AI in 2026. Together they accounted for more than half of all company donations, at $344 million, Public Citizen found.
Sports betting companies DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and bet365 gave $29 million in the second quarter to the industry's super PAC Win for America, which spreads its money between two affiliate PACs that back candidates from both parties in state elections. That brought the industry's total contributions to the midterms to $76 million so far.
Prediction market Polymarket stepped into the elections for the first time with a $1 million donation through its corporate parent to CLF PAC, which supports Republican candidates in the House, in June and $10,000 in April to V-PAC: Victors, not Victims, the PAC supporting Republican entrepreneur and former DOGE co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy's gubernatorial run in Ohio.
DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, bet365 and Polymarket did not respond to requests for comment.
The super PAC aligned with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Leading the Future, reported receiving $50 million so far, bringing the sector's campaign donations reported to FEC to $62 million, Public Citizen said. The PAC has raised $140 million in donations and commitments so far, a person familiar with its fundraising said.
OpenAI has previously said "no outside political group speaks for OpenAI or represents our company’s views."
ELON MUSK, DARK MONEY SPENDING IS UNTRACKED
The totals are just scratching the surface. The FEC data excludes spending on state and local races, so it doesn't capture the $65 million Instagram owner Meta has set aside for state races, state campaign finance and IRS filings show. And some political spending isn't tracked at all.
Many companies are also increasingly moving political donations through so-called dark money groups, nonprofits so named because they don't have to fully reveal their donors or how they use the money. Claude AI assistant creator Anthropic has donated $40 million to one such group called Public First Action, a nonprofit that has raised $100 million to spend on the midterms, according to a spokesperson.
Anthropic, which didn't return a request for comment, has previously said its donations can be used toward educational issues, but not directly on specific races. A spokesperson for Public First Action said its money comes from a broad coalition of donors, declining to disclose the rest of them. It was created to educate the public and "amplify calls for Congress" to pass laws that protect consumers as AI creates new risks, the spokesperson said.
The corporate totals also leave out millions more directly spent by the executives running those companies, including the more than $90 million SpaceX founder Elon Musk has already spent on federal elections. It also leaves out the $106 million-plus Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent in California fighting a proposed wealth tax and other issues, federal and state filings show. Representatives for Brin didn't return a request for comment and a spokesman for Musk declined to comment.
(Reporting by Dawn Kopecki in New York. Editing by Michael Learmonth and Deepa Babington)
