Here Are The Billionaires Funding The Democratic Presidential Candidates

As Democratic candidates drop out of the race, more billionaires are jumping in. By the end of 2019, about 20% of American billionaires had donated—either directly or through their spouse—to at least one Democratic candidate running for president, according to a review of the latest Federal Election Commission filings. At least 100 billionaires donated in their own names. And at least 25 did not give any money directly, but are married to people who did.

Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg lead the pack of beneficiaries. Forbes found that Biden had received support from 60 billionaires or their spouses by the end of 2019. Buttigieg had 56 such backers. The two billionaire candidates, Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, outspent both Biden and Buttigieg with their own resources. By the end of the year, Steyer and Bloomberg had each shelled out over $200 million on their campaigns.

Sixteen new donors supported Biden in the last three months of 2019, according to a Forbes analysis. Biden’s largest donor appears to be real estate billionaire George Marcus, who gave $1 million to a super PAC supporting the former vice president in December. Marcus also hosted a fundraiser for Biden in the fall. His wife, Judy, pitched in another $2,800 to Biden, her first contribution to a presidential candidate this cycle, in October.

Forbes also found 16 new donors to Buttigieg’s campaign, including Walmart heiress Christy Walton and Kleiner Perkins legend John Doerr, along with the spouses of hedge funder Steve Cohen and Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Brin’s wife, Nicole Shanahan, reportedly cohosted a fundraiser for Buttigieg in December in concert with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Wendy Schmidt, the wife of ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Earlier in the race, Shanahan donated $2,800 to the now-defunct campaign of Marianne Williamson.