Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam gave another $15 million late in the fall campaign to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s super PAC devoted to electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate.
That brought the Adelsons’ total contributions to Senate Leadership Fund to $35 million – dwarfing even other billionaire donors who have given seven-figure amounts to the political causes of McConnell over the last eight years.
Here’s my list of top donors to McConnell political committees since Jan. 1, 2009 – updated with contributions listed in reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and Kentucky Registry of Election Finance in the last week.
The following are the biggest donors since Jan. 1, 2009 through Dec. 6, 2016 to four McConnell committees: McConnell’s own Senate re-election committee, his own PAC called Bluegrass Committee, a super PAC for his Kentucky priorities called Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, and his super PAC for holding the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate called Senate Leadership Fund.
Over the nearly eight-year period, the four committees have raised $158 million – the vast majority of that ($113.2 million) came in giant contributions to Senate Leadership Fund. And the list is dominated by people and corporations who gave six-figure and seven-figure contributions to that fund in the past year.
TOP 25 DONORS to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s political causes between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 6, 2016. (An asterisk next to the name notes an increase since I last updated this list in early November.)
*Sheldon and Miriam Adelson and Las Vegas Sands Corp., Las Vegas, casinos: $35,038,500
*Paul Singer and Elliott Management, New York, hedge funds: $6,124,800
*W. Ed Bosarge Jr. and Petrodome Energy, Houston, energy: $4,185,400
Warren Stephens and Stephens Inc., Little Rock, investment banking: $3,751,300
*Stephen Schwarzman and Blackstone Group, New York, private equity: $3,464,225
*Robert McNair, Houston, energy, electric power generation, owner of Houston Texans: $3,002,500
*Access Industries, New York, natural resources, chemicals, media, real estate: $2,500,000
*Richard M. Devos Sr. and family, Grand Rapids, Michigan, co-founder of Amway Corp.: $2,280,300
Kenneth Griffin and Citadel Investment, Chicago, financial services: $2,190,400
Chevron, Concord, California, energy: $2,058,800
Bernard Marcus, Atlanta, retired chairman of Home Depot, retail stores: $2,005,200
Station Casinos, Zuffa LLC and Fertitta family, Las Vegas, casinos, sports promotion: $1,527,100
Craig and Richard Duchossois, Elmhurst, Ill., directors of Churchill Downs, horse racing: $1,165,600
*ConocoPhillips and subsidiary Polar Tankers, Houston, oil tankers, $1,022,100
Michael S. Smith, Boulder, Colorado, Kaitar Resources, business consulting: $1,002,500
Annette Simmons, Dallas, GOP donor and philanthropist: $1,000,000
*John W. Childs, Boston and Vero Beach, J.W. Childs Associates, private equity: $995,200
Cliff Asness, New York, AQR Capital Management, investment management: $900,000
NextEra Energy, Juno Beach, Fla., parent of Florida Power & Light: $896,000
William E. Oberndorf, San Francisco, Oberndorf Enterprises, financial services:$852,600
Devon Energy, Oklahoma City, oil and gas: $769,600
Philip Anschutz and Anschutz Corp., Denver, energy, real estate, entertainment companies, etc.:$750,000
*Alliance Coal and its president Joe Craft, Tulsa, Okla., coal mining: $676,050
*Sam Fox and family, St. Louis, chairman of Harbour Group, private equity: $612,800
David Jones Sr. and wife Betty, Louisville, retired Humana executive: $585,000
NOTE: I’ve eliminated from this list big contributors which are essentially other McConnell-related committees: One Nation, the type of super PAC whose donors are not disclosed which is also run by close McConnell allies, has given $20.2 million to Senate Leadership Fund; and American Crossroads, a major Republican super PAC that has close ties to McConnell’s super PACs, has given $1,150,000 to Senate Leadership Fund.
NOTE: This list represents my best effort to determine the largest contributors within $158 million in contributions to McConnell political committees between Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 6, 2016. Those committees are: McConnell’s committee for election to the U.S. Senate ($30.3 million); McConnell’s personal PAC called Bluegrass Committee ($4.9 million); the McConnell super PAC devoted to Kentucky elections called Kentuckians for Strong Leadership ($9.6 million); and the McConnell super PAC to support election of Republicans to the U.S. Senate in 2016 called Senate Leadership Fund ($113.2 million).
If the contributor listed above is the name of just a person, all of the money was contributed by that person. If a corporation is also listed, the contribution total includes contributions of officials of that corporation and their spouses, the corporation PAC, and the corporation itself.
