Who are the Trump, Harris high-dollar donors? Candidate with most money no longer a sure winner

The last official financial reports before the election for the 2024 presidential candidates have been filed. And with just days until we know who our next president is, the names and interests behind the funds fueling the final spending frenzy can tell us something about who may hold sway over the winner.

I dug in to identify the biggest donors behind each major party nominee – Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris – examining data published by the nonprofit OpenSecrets, which tracks donations to the candidates and outside groups supporting them.

"We are looking at more than $14 billion at this point," said Anna Massoglia, OpenSecrets' editorial and investigations manager. "We're projecting this to be a new nominal record."

Massoglia says the biggest standout late in the money game is the flamboyant X-owner and now Trump campaign surrogate Elon Musk, who suddenly dumped more than $132 million into the race.

"Elon Musk has really been a game-changer for this election cycle," she said. "The amount that Musk has given puts him among the top donors of the election cycle, out of nowhere. Looking at Musk's history of political contributions, he has given very little over the years, only small sums in the most recent election cycle. This really has the potential to have a change in the election because of the pure sum of money that is going into it."

Edging out Musk, who also owns SpaceX and Tesla, among top individual donors in campaign 2024 (Musk ranks No. 4) is another Trump supporter and also a relative newcomer: investor Timothy Mellon, an heir to the Mellon banking fortune.

"Mellon is one of the newer donors who has emerged this cycle in a very big way, similar to Musk," Massoglia said. "He does not have a long history of giving and making large political contributions."

He weighs in at more than $172 million. Also a top donor: businesswoman and doctor Miriam Adelson, widow of the casino magnate, and also a Trump supporter.

Harris’s top individual donor in campaign 2024 is Michael Bloomberg of the Bloomberg financial and media empire and former mayor of New York. He’s given over $42 million. Another top Harris backer is LinkedIn cofounder Reid Garrett Hoffman.

And a lot of money comes to both Harris and Trump from people who don’t work for anyone. They’re retirees, with Trump coming out on top: $129 million to $102 million. Trump and Harris also rake in similar amounts from real estate interests.

Among companies, Harris’s biggest money comes from people affiliated with Alphabet, which owns Google – nearly $3 million. Trump’s most generous donors, as a group, are from the Defense Department ($366,467).

Top industries supporting Harris, but not so much Trump, are Internet, TV and music, pharmaceuticals and health products, hospitals and nursing homes, and nonprofits. Big for Trump, but not Harris, are tobacco, pro-Israel, oil and gas.

Of course, the big question is, how much does money matter in getting the candidate elected?

Typically, the candidate who has raised more wins. But Trump is an exception. In 2016, even though Democrat Hillary Clinton ($564 million) far out-raised Trump ($333 million): Trump won.

In the ultimate battle between which candidate’s campaign committee in 2024 has drawn more donations to date, Harris ($906 million) outweighs Trump ($367 million).

"Traditionally, money has equated to a win," Massoglia said. "Incumbents tend to win more. They tend to get more money. But that is something that's shifted in recent years.” 

That means it's impossible to know ahead of time whether Harris’s big money advantage over Trump will translate to victory.