Virgin Group founder Richard Branson said he feels ashamed of the way other billionaires spend money on politics. He made his position public on LinkedIn after the U.S. congressional midterm elections, criticizing above all technology entrepreneurs and hedge fund managers, whose funds mostly went to Republican campaigns.
According to Branson, the election results showed the limited influence of money on politics. He called for changing the laws that allow unlimited political spending by both individuals and corporations, and urged the next Congress to achieve campaign finance reform. His call comes against the backdrop of a long-running debate about how much private money can influence voting outcomes.
Data cited in the article point to the rapid rise of mega-donors. According to the Brennan Center, the forty largest donors had together spent 2.4 billion dollars by mid-October. In this election cycle, donors supporting Republicans are spending more than three times as much as donors supporting Democrats. By comparison, in 2014 the largest donors favored Democrats at a ratio of two to one. Thus, the balance of political spending has shifted in favor of the right over nearly a decade.
Among the most prominent mega-donors named were the Uihlein, Yass, Adelson, Andreessen, Soros and Bloomberg families. They represent different political and business circles, which underscores the breadth of the phenomenon. The largest individual donor was Elon Musk, who spent nearly half a billion dollars. These funds went to Republican campaigns and super PACs, that is, independent political committees that can raise and spend unlimited sums but are not permitted to directly coordinate their activities with candidates.
A significant portion of Musk's investments was directed at supporting Ken Paxton in his unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat from Texas. According to reports, the money spent in the Texas race reached 230 million dollars. Despite such large-scale funding, the result was disappointing for the financier.
According to Reuters, of the 43 House of Representatives candidates whom Musk supported, only three won, while 33 lost. Of the seven Senate candidates he backed, six lost. The results of the House races had not yet been finally determined as of late Wednesday. In the view of Branson and other critics, these figures show that large sums of money do not guarantee victory at the polls.