May was eventful for former President Donald Trump. On May 30, a New York jury convicted him on all 34 counts related to falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential election. A day after that, a well-known ultra-wealthy Republican donor from Wyoming made one of the largest single-donor contributions this election cycle. Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune, is the leading donor in the 2024 election cycle , having donated more than $100 million so far.
With a $50 million donation on May 31, his total contribution to Trump’s main super PAC exceeded $75 million. The remaining $25 million went to American Values 2024, a super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid for the Oval Office.
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A few weeks before Mellon’s donation, Republican mega-donors Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein made their first significant contribution of $10 million to Make America Great Again Inc., Trump's main super PAC. The Uihleins are also major backers of Club for Growth Action, a super PAC that supports candidates advocating for lower taxes and reduced government spending. Over the past few decades, only a handful of donors have spent more money than the Uihleins in conservative politics.
Kelcy Warren, a Texas billionaire and co-founder of the pipeline company Energy Transfer, made a $5 million donation on May 29, a day before the conviction. Warren is a big donor to America First Action Inc., a group that promotes Trump’s policies led by Linda McMahon, who is the second largest Trump donor after Mellon in this election cycle.
On the Democratic side, billionaire Michael Bloomberg donated $19 million to Future Forward PAC, which backs President Joe Biden. In May, billionaires James Simons and Fred Eychaner donated another $6.6 million and $2 million, respectively. The group, which ended May with $92 million in cash on hand, plans to run a $250 million ad campaign from the fall through election day in the battleground states.
Kennedy Jr.’s main super PAC raised just $281,503 in May, with hedge fund manager Robert Bishop contributing $175,000 of the total.
While these outside groups can’t coordinate with the campaign, they can raise unlimited amounts of money and spend as much as they like.
On the back of his conviction, the Trump campaign outraised Biden in May , narrowing the funding gap between the two campaigns. As USA TODAY reported last month, Trump and the Republican National Committee, which is led by the Trump family after a management shakeup, raised $141 million in May, outraising Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee by $56 million, according to the numbers from the two campaigns. These numbers can be independently confirmed once quarterly reports are filed with the FEC around mid-July.
Trump’s campaign entered June with $116.6 million in cash on hand, while Biden’s campaign entered with $91.6 million in cash on hand.
We have been tracking the campaign finance reports since February. Here are the links to our previous reports:
June : Timothy Mellon donated another $15 million to super PACs backing Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in April
May : Biden’s campaign maintained a significant fundraising lead over Trump in March, ending the month with $85.5 million in cash on hand
March : President Joe Biden significantly expanded his fundraising lead over former President Donald Trump in February
February : President Biden’s campaign committee had nearly double the cash on hand compared to Trump’s as of the end of January
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s NY conviction spurs major donations — big bucks from these big names
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