More billionaires back Democrats
World’s wealthiest prefer Clinton to Trump
HILLARY gets the vote from America’s richest citizens. Or at least she’s getting their cash.
Former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has collected $21.1 million (R288.5m) for her campaign and its supporting political action committees from 17 US donors on the Bloomberg billionaires index. Republican Donald Trump has received $1.02m from 12 members of the group.
While the role the wealthiest play in American politics has come under increased scrutiny with growing attention to income inequality fuelling the rise of populist candidates, contributions from US billionaires on the Bloomberg index amount to 3 percent of the $708m raised by the two candidates, as of the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
Hedge fund George Soros is spender among donors on the index, giving almost $11.9m to Clinton’s cause.
A Hungarian immigrant to the US, Soros is the 17th-richest person in the country with $24.7 billion, according to the index. The co-founder of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies – and former National Security Agency codebreaker – James Simons, is the second-biggest spender, giving $7m to Clinton. ‘I think this election will determine the course of this country for a long time into the future.’
Trump is finding Republican-supporting billionaires to be far more frugal, at least to date. His top publicly disclosed donor, American Homes 4 Rent co-founder Bradley Wayne Hughes Sr, has given $449 000. His billionaire daughter, Tamara Hughes Gustavson, the company’s largest individual shareholder, has given Trump $25 000.
“I think this election will determine the course of this country for a long time into the future,” said Thomas Peterffy, a Trump donor, Hungarian immigrant and multibillionaire from founding electronic brokerage Interactive Brokers Group. Slippery slope “If we are going to continue on our current progressive course by appointing liberal judges and piling on more regulations and not simplifying the tax code, it will be very difficult to reverse at a later date. We are on a slippery slope sliding towards socialism.”
Peterffy said his only political donation this cycle had been $100 000 to a Trump group. The billionaire added he was working on his own commercials in support of Republican candidates. New York financier John Paulson, the coun- try’s 54th-richest person with $8.1bn, gave $5 400 to support Trump. His spokesman Armel Leslie said he gave $250 000 in June, but that gift is not yet reported in filings. Because of varying FEC disclosure deadlines and possible agency delays in posting filings, contri- butions of some donors may be undercounted.
Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, the 15th-richest American with $29.2bn, and Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, ranked 77th with $6.2bn, each penned opeds endorsing Trump in the spring. Marcus committed $3m to Trump in May, and Adelson is reportedly still considering putting $5m behind Trump.
There are 40 billionaires on the index who gave to other Republican presidential contenders in the party’s primary and have not sent