2 hours ago
7
Hedge money manager Stephen Mandel and his woman Susan are a billionaire powerfulness mates that has a past of springing into enactment travel predetermination season. Before the 2024 statesmanlike contest, they hosted Joe Biden for a backstage fundraising dinner successful Greenwich, Connecticut. Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry are different beneficiaries of the $84 cardinal that the Mandels person sprinkled to Democratic campaigns implicit time, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Now, the mates is gearing up for the 2026 midterm elections.
The Mandels person fixed astir $10 cardinal successful enactment of Democrats seeking national bureau this year, national records show, with much expected.
"They are highly influential and generous supporters who person ne'er asked for precise much," 1 seasoned Democratic fundraiser who has worked for fractional a twelve statesmanlike campaigns and interfaced with the mates told CBS News.
The Mandels' giving offers a model into however billionaire megadonors person go an unrivaled unit successful American politics. The ultra-wealthy donor people is preparing to determination resources into an predetermination that volition determine whether Republicans oregon Democrats person a bulk successful the adjacent Congress.
In 2024, ultra-wealthy donors poured much than $3 billion into elections, led by the world's richest antheral — Elon Musk. He spent much than $290 million supporting President Trump and different Republicans, a grounds sum. And overall, that $3 cardinal was spent overwhelmingly to payment the GOP — these donors gave 5 times arsenic overmuch to Republicans and groups aligned with them arsenic they did to Democrats.
That inclination appears to beryllium continuing: Republican Party committees, ace PACs, MAGA Inc. and different Trump-related groups had implicit $600 cardinal successful currency connected manus successful aboriginal February, portion Democratic Party committees and legislature ace PACs were abbreviated of $200 million.
Election spending has ballooned successful the decennary and a fractional since a Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates for corporations and unions to donate without immoderate limits. Billionaires connected some sides person funded a constellation of opaque governmental organizations, raising caller questions astir "dark money" and lax disclosure laws, arsenic good as, successful immoderate cases, whether groups are complying with rules connected the books.
The structures and currency travel of these organizations — which run connected some sides of the governmental aisle — person taken connected a caller level of complexity, adjacent for the already serpentine satellite of run giving.
After the 2024 election, the Majority Democrats PAC was launched by centrist Democrats to enlistee caller candidates and situation the party's much progressive wing.
The Mandels, on with Mark Heising — a billionaire capitalist successful San Francisco who besides fundraises for Democrats — are apical funders of Majority Democrats PAC. More than 90% of its publicly-disclosed fundraising haul since past July is traced to $3.5 cardinal successful contributions from the Mandels and $1 cardinal from Heising.
Majority Democrats PAC fundraises alongside different governmental committee called The Bench, which says connected its website that it "is recruiting and supporting the adjacent procreation of Democratic leaders."
Personnel overlap betwixt the 2 committees makes it hard to find who is being paid by whom, experts said, noting that immoderate of the same consultants who person been identified successful quality reports arsenic moving connected behalf of Majority Democrats person besides been quoted successful the property arsenic being affiliated with The Bench. They person besides been identified arsenic advisers to 2 Democratic legislature candidates: Mallory McMorrow successful Michigan and James Talarico successful Texas.
Federal records bash not database immoderate payments from these 2 PACs to the consultants. But determination are nonstop payments from the McMorrow and Talarico campaigns to the consultants for "communications consulting."
Caleb Burns, a spouse astatine instrumentality steadfast Wiley Rein and the co-chair of its predetermination instrumentality and authorities morals practice, said the rules let consultants to deterioration aggregate hats, but told CBS News "the consultants indispensable instrumentality large attraction to guarantee their enactment for 1 lawsuit is not paid for oregon subsidized by another."
At the bosom of national run concern instrumentality are rules designed to support the antiauthoritarian process and guarantee transparency. They strictly prohibit campaigns from coordinating with PACs connected spending that should beryllium made independently, oregon from the 2 covering each other's expenses.
Burns said firewalls mightiness beryllium needed to marque definite campaigns and fundraising committees aren't sharing non-public information. "Otherwise, in-kind contributions tin effect that are taxable to reporting and, potentially, prohibited," helium added.
But the Federal Election Commission has ever been dilatory to enactment connected allegations of run concern violations, and present the committee isn't acting astatine all. The six-member committee is down to 2 and has lacked the 4 members it needs for a quorum since May 2025. Although Mr. Trump nominated 2 members successful February, they person not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
Laws governing governmental parties' spending successful coordination with national candidates could beryllium changing successful the adjacent fewer months, since the Supreme Court is expected to regularisation by June on the legality of the caps.
Officials with the Democratic committees told CBS News they comply with each national regulations. A Majority Democrats spokesperson said the radical "advises officeholders and candidates connected strategy, press, and messaging" and "does not walk funds connected paid communications that enactment oregon reason candidates."
A spokesperson for The Bench said it "has successful spot a strict firewall argumentation adhering to each the close statutes." The Talarico run declined to comment, and the McMorrow run did not respond.
Myles Martin, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission, said it "cannot remark connected immoderate imaginable enforcement matters that whitethorn travel earlier the commission." The Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment. The Mandels did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Heising.
"Battle plans"
David Dulio, who teaches run concern arsenic the manager of the halfway for civic engagement astatine Oakland University successful Michigan, characterized the Majority Democrats statement arsenic "another look into the mysterious and murky world" of run finance.
Both parties participate. Republican spending aimed astatine the midterm elections whitethorn see important infusions from President Trump's ace PAC, MAGA Inc. Wealthy donors person contributed importantly to the organization's $300 cardinal haul since the 2024 election, national records amusement — a record-breaking sum. It has raised 96% of the funds from donors who gave $1 cardinal oregon more, portion 62% came from donors who gave astatine slightest $5 million, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice.
Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., told CBS News that the radical "is committed to retaining and gathering the GOP majorities successful the House and Senate," but helium declined to stock what helium referred to arsenic its "battle plans."
The largest donors to MAGA Inc., person included Republican billionaires Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania-based investor, vigor enforcement Kelcy Warren, arsenic good arsenic OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna Brockman, national records show. It besides has received astatine slightest $88 cardinal since July 2024 from Securing American Greatness, a Trump-aligned nonprofit that is not required by the IRS to disclose its donors.
Other influential ace PACs underscore the heightened questions astir acheronian wealth and billionaire power — including 1 called Texans for a Conservative Majority that supports Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn. The azygous largest publication that the PAC has received was $3.1 cardinal from a nonprofit listed arsenic Ohio Works — which said connected national filings that its address was a Parcel Plus shipping and mailing store successful Alexandria, Virginia.
In December of past year, conscionable 2 weeks aft the donation was disclosed, paperwork was filed successful Ohio by an Ohio Works authoritative changing its sanction to America Works Fund.
Adding to the mystery, the sanction of the nonprofit matches that of different enactment that saw its tax-exempt presumption revoked aft failing to record fiscal disclosures, arsenic good arsenic its firm presumption canceled successful 2022 by the Ohio caput of state. A twelvemonth later, successful 2023, that radical recovered itself roped into a Federal Election Commission investigation astir acheronian wealth spending aft a complaint was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics successful Washington, oregon CREW, a progressive nonprofit. The Federal Election Commission deadlocked 3 to 3, on enactment lines, connected moving guardant connected enforcement of the complaint.
A spokesperson for Texans for a Conservative Majority did not respond to requests for comment.
"When an opaque entity that is not required to disclose its ain donors gives millions to a ace PAC, it importantly impedes the public's quality to cognize who is spending important sums to payment — and perchance power — elected officials," Matt Corley, CREW's main investigator, told CBS News.
Corley said it is "even much hard erstwhile the intermediary enactment shapeshifts by changing its name."
Who are different apical donors to Texans for a Conservative Majority? A cadre of billionaires, according to national records: Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Walmart heirs S. Robson Walton and Jim Walton, and Alex Karp, the CEO of bundle steadfast Palantir.
To critics, this benignant of tangled spending dynamic reflects an progressively secretive web of wealth built to covertly administer wealth from billionaire donors.
It is portion of what Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist connected morals and run concern rules for the progressive nonprofit Public Citizen, called the "breakdown of run concern laws."
"Despite publication limits and disclosure requirements connected the sources of run money, affluent interests — and billionaires successful circumstantial — are exploiting influence-peddling avenues astir these laws," Holman said.
In:
English (US) ·