Topline
While billionaire business leaders poured money into 2024’s presidential race, businesses largely stayed away—yet the biggest corporate donor was a leading tobacco company that put its money behind President-elect Donald Trump, federal filings show, though the president-elect also got a boost from the oil and private prison industries that stand to benefit from his presidency.
President-elect Donald Trump smiles during a Hispanic roundtable at Beauty Society on October 12 in … [+]
Getty ImagesKey Facts
RAI Services Co., a subsidiary of Reynolds American, was the biggest corporate donor to Trump’s campaign and affiliated super PACs, Federal Election Commission filings show, giving a combined $10 million to the Make America Great Again Inc. super PAC that backed Trump’s campaign in 2024.
Reynolds owns the companies that control some of the most well-known tobacco brands, such as Newport, Camel, Pall Mall, Lucky Strike and Natural American Spirit.
The Washington Post reported in September that Trump-aligned Reynolds lobbyist Brian Ballard was the one to suggest the company give to Trump, as tobacco executives reportedly saw electing the ex-president as the best way to avoid a potential ban on menthol cigarettes and curb regulation against the tobacco industry.
Trump—who has personally said he thinks smoking “looks terrible”—took some steps in his first term to limit flavored e-cigarettes, but The Post notes he scaled back plans for more sweeping restrictions after being told it could anger some of his supporters, and Reynolds executives are reportedly hoping they can boost their relationship with Trump and persuade him not to take action on menthol cigarettes.
FEC filings show RAI and Reynolds’ political PAC also gave money to numerous congressional campaigns this election cycle, focusing primarily on Republican candidates but also giving to some Democrats, like Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Trump’s transition team has not yet responded to a request for comment on RAI’s support and how Trump plans to handle the tobacco industry when he’s in office.
What Other Companies Gave To Trump’s Campaign?
FEC filings show corporate donations made up only a small fraction of donations to Trump and his affiliated PACs, though companies in some significant industries helped support his election. Continental Resources, an oil and gas company owned by billionaire Trump backer Harold Hamm, gave $2 million to Make America Great Again Inc., FEC filings show. That doesn’t come as a surprise, as Trump courted oil executives for donations during the election—reportedly with Hamm serving as his main point person—and has put a heavy emphasis on ramping up oil and gas drilling in the U.S. and curbing climate change mitigation efforts. The GEO Group, a private prison company, also gave $1 million to Make America Great Again Inc. and a combined $80,000 to the Trump campaign’s joint fundraising committees through its corporate PAC and a subsidiary. And those donations paid off: The company and others in the private prison industry saw their stock prices soar after Trump’s election, given his plan to crack down on unlawful immigration. Other companies that gave $1 million to Make America Great Again, Inc. are Florida Crystals, a sugar cane company controlled by a wealthy family that’s a major player in Florida real estate; Extremity Care, a Pennsylvania-based medical company that’s spent thousands lobbying federal health agencies; and M8 Enterprises LLC, a consulting company run by Emil Michael, a former Uber executive whom Trump named as the Department of Defense’s under secretary for research and engineering. Tobacco company Altria also gave $2.5 million to support the Republican National Convention over the summer, and Hendricks Holding Co., owned by billionaire Trump donor Diane Hendricks, also put $5 million toward the convention.
What Companies Backed Kamala Harris?
While Harris outraised Trump overall and secured donations from dozens of billionaires, the vice president got little support from corporate interests, FEC filings show. The biggest super PAC backing Harris, Future Forward, did not receive any corporate donations above $1 million, and though it did receive $1 million from cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on August 14, that appears to be a transfer of cryptocurrency donated to the PAC by Ripple CEO Christian Larsen. Geosor Corporation, a company owned by billionaire and Democratic megadonor George Soros, also put $10 million into Soros’ Democracy PAC, which sent money to super PACs that supported Harris’ campaign. Super PACs backing Harris also received some smaller amounts from companies, such as a PAC affiliated with the game Cards Against Humanity giving $159,000 to Women Vote PAC, the political committee arm of Emily’s List that helps elect female candidates.
Big Number
$825.9 million. That’s how much money was raised in total in 2024 between Trump’s two joint fundraising committees—which raised money for both him and the Republican National Committee—and Make America Great Again, Inc., making the more than $16 million in large corporate donations that went to those groups only a small part of their total haul. Donors raised $1.7 billion in 2024 to back Harris’ campaign, between her main fundraising committee Harris Victory Fund and Future Forward. Those totals do not include other, smaller, PACs that backed each candidate.
What Companies Gave The Most Overall?
Beyond the presidential race, the biggest industry giving money to federal candidates this year was cryptocurrency, as crypto companies became a major political force in downballot races with the formation of their own Fairshake PAC. The super PAC, which donated to candidates on both sides of the aisle that advocate in favor of cryptocurrency, received at least $25 million each from Coinbase and Ripple Labs, as well as private venture capital firm Andressen Horowitz. Those $25 million checks rank as the biggest federal political donations any company gave in 2024. While Fairshake and crypto companies did not wade into the presidential race directly, both Harris and Trump also received big donations from major crypto players. Harris netted donations from figures like Larsen and Andreessen Horowitz’s Ben Horowitz, while Trump drew most of the support from crypto leaders, taking in donations from people including Horowitz’s business partner Marc Andreesen, Kraken exchange founder Jesse Powell and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
Which Billionaires Gave The Most To Trump And Harris?
While companies may have largely stayed out of the presidential race, wealthy business leaders spent millions personally trying to get both candidates elected, with more than 100 billionaires publicly backing either Trump or Harris. Billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of companies including Tesla and SpaceX, spent more than $200 million helping Trump, largely through Musk’s America PAC. Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who founded shipping company Uline, also gave a combined $10 million to Make America Great Again, Inc., while Miriam Adelson—who still owns half of Las Vegas Sands following the death of her husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson—gave nearly $100 million to a pro-Trump PAC. Hendricks, who runs ABC Supply, also gave more than $15 million in support of Trump. Other business leaders who served as key Trump donors include Kelcy Warren (oil company Energy Transfer), Jimmy John Liautaud (Jimmy John’s) and Bernard Marcus (Home Depot co-founder) and Tilman Fertitta, who runs the Landry’s restaurant group that owns chains like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Rainforest Cafe—and was nominated as Trump’s ambassador to Italy. Harris, meanwhile, drew support from leaders including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, who gave approximately $12 million to Future Forward and Harris’ campaign, and Netflix chairman Reed Hastings, whose $7 million donation to Harris led some Republicans to cancel their Netflix subscriptions. Other prominent Harris backers in the business community include businessman Mark Cuban, Bloomberg LP owner Michael Bloomberg, Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
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