Timothy Mellon is the heir to Gilded Age banking baron Andrew Mellon, and he acts like it. As of September 22, the conservative billionaire has poured more than $165 million into the 2024 election, including $125 million in contributions to the Make America Great Again Inc Super PAC and $25 million to the Robert F. Kennedy-aligned American Values 2024 Super PAC. Mellon is a secretive guy—so secretive, in fact, that the 43-year-old photo we have here is one of the only images you can find of him.

Michael Bloomberg has given more money to liberal super PACs than any other individual so far in 2024. Bloomberg is a lot of things: former Mayor of New York City, candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and the 15th richest person in the world. As of September 22, he’s poured more than $40.8 million into super PACs in 2024, including giving $10 million to the Democratic Party-aligned House Majority PAC. Bloomberg is no stranger to using his money to influence our political system and advance his own interests. He put more than $1 billion of his own money into his 2020 presidential campaign, and more than $200 million into his three successful New York City mayoral elections. Prior to 2020, most of Bloomberg’s super PAC donations went to a group he founded called Independence USA PAC, which supported both Democratic and Republican candidates who showed a willingness to work on gun control, the environment, marriage equality, and education in a bipartisan fashion.

Future Forward USA Action is by far the largest contributor to Future Forward USA, the highest spending liberal super PAC of 2024. The group has given more than $56.1 million to the similarly named super PAC, accounting for roughly 28% of their revenue. So who is Future Forward USA Action, exactly? We don’t know! That’s because Future Forward USA Action is a “dark money” group that almost exclusively donates to the Future Forward USA Super PAC, which backs Kamala Harris and other Democrats.

As of September 22, Hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin has dumped more than $74,000,000 into Republican-aligned super PACs this year, making him the third biggest spender of the 2024 election. Griffin is a staunch proponent of free markets, lower taxes, and reduced government regulation of businesses. In a rare 2012 interview, he famously told the Chicago Tribune that the wealthy “actually have insufficient influence” in politics. Griffin certainly does his part to pick up the slack with a variety of high-dollar contributions to super PACs supporting Republican Senate candidates, including $10 million backing fellow hedge fund executive David McCormick’s campaign for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat and $10 million backing former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s campaign for his state’s Senate seat.

Fairshake is a super PAC that backs candidates who support the growth of the cryptocurrency industry. Unlike most partisan super PACs that help elect candidates from their preferred party, Fairshake is an issue-based super PAC that supports candidates on both sides of the aisle. Fairshake is the most well-funded of the issue-based super PACs operating in 2024. As of September 22, they’ve spent $31.7 million, with $12.9 million spent in support of Democrats and $18.9 million spent opposing Democrats or supporting Republicans. Issue-based groups like Fairshake don’t just put their money behind candidates that already support their goals, they also use it to get rid of candidates who don’t or, crucially, to persuade candidates who need their help to see eye to eye with them. 

United Democracy Project is the super PAC arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, more commonly known as AIPAC. The group is one of the two largest issue-based super PACs operating in the 2024 election, and they’ve spent more than $35.5 million to help elect more pro-Israel members of Congress. While many other issue-based super PACs back candidates from both parties, United Democracy Project has put most of it’s money into Democratic primary races where it believes it can move the party in a more pro-Israel direction. For example, the group poured nearly $15 million into defeating Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the NY-16 House primary earlier this year, making it the most expensive House primary election in history. They also spent $8.5 million to oust Rep. Cori Bush in favor of a more pro-Israel candidate during the MO-1 Democratic primary, making that race the second most expensive House primary in history.