US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS are notoriously difficult to run, and they’re never cheap.
Donald Trump touted his independence from big-money corporate donations during his campaign, and by all accounts did sink a good chunk of his own cash into his tilt for the White House.
According to his most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission the billionaire businessman splashed out about $66 million of his own cash during the campaign, although this is less than the $100 million that he initially promised to spend.
However, the race for the US presidency is an expensive one, and Trump was helped by some large corporate backers in his march to the Oval Office.
The Centre for Responsive Politics, a non-profit think tank based in Washington DC that tracked US election expenditure, on a federal basis Renaissance Technologies was the largest single backer for the Trump campaign, donating just over $15.5 million.
Renaissance is a prominent US hedge fund that has averaged a return of over 70%, before fees, between 1994 and 2014, a hugely profitable figure, and its founder, James Simons, is estimated to be worth $16.5 billion.
The company is one of the of the largest political contributors in American politics and was also one of the single largest donors to the Clinton campaign, contributing $14 million.
GH Palmer Assoc, a firm headed up by Los Angeles developer Geoff Palmer is next on the list, contributing slightly more than $2 million. A prominent developer in LA who builds huge, Italian style luxury apartment complexes, Palmer is estimated to be worth $3 billion.
The Marcus Foundation, which is chaired by Bernie Marcus, comes in third with a $2 million donation. Marcus is the co-founder of giant home improvement chain Home Depot and is estimated to be worth about $3.5 billion.
$1 million was contributed by Hawaiian Gardens Casino, a large casino business in Hawaiian Gardens, the smallest city in the county of Los Angeles, while Auburn Manor Holding rounded out the top five with a contribution of just over $700,000.
The company is owned by California-based Martin Harmon, a contributor to both political parties, who builds nursing homes.
The rest of the top 10, according to Centre for Responsive Politics, is made up of:
Billionaires
Business media agency Bloomberg has combed through Federal Election Commission filings and also found that several other billionaires have helped fund the Trump campaign.
Among these are Bradley Wayne Hughes, the founder and chairman of Public Storage, one of the largest self-storage businesses in the US, who contributed $449,000.
Thomas Peterffy, the founder of trading group Interactive Brokers who is estimated to be worth $14.4 billion, contributed $100,000 while Carl Icahn, one of the most famous investors in the US who has taken stakes in companies such as Time Warner and Netflix, donated $50,000.
It is worth noting that many companies, such as Renaissance, donate to both the Democrats and the Republicans.
Also, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton raised far more from business interests and billionaires during her presidential campaign. The Centre for Responsive Politics lists 20 corporate entities that donated upwards of $2 million each to Clinton, compared to just three for Trump.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg report from September found that billionaires acting as individuals donated about $21 million to Clinton compared to $1 million for Trump, although this was skewed somewhat by an $11.9 million contribution from investor George Soros.
Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie
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