Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson is dipping into his enormous pockets to bolster the hopes of the Republican Party in next month’s congressional mid-terms.
Federal Election Commission filings show the 85-year-old billionaire and his wife, Miriam, have contributed a record $112 million to the campaigns of GOP candidates, topping it up most recently with a $25 million check to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The mid-terms, universally seen as a referendum on the 2-year-old presidency of Donald Trump, have devolved as expected into bitterly fought races in states nationwide. With control of Congress at stake, and the partisan divide separating Republicans and Democrats continuing to widen, the two parties and their allies are raising and spending money at a furious pace.
As in the past, the Adelsons have been lavish participants, already surpassing the $82.5 million they gave to GOP-backed causes and candidates in the 2015-16 election cycle in which they ranked second only to liberal billionaire Tom Steyer as individual donors.
Despite their largesse, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which supports the party’s House candidates, out-raised and outspent its Republican counterpart in September for the seventh straight month, according to the latest FEC reports. The DCCC brought in $22.2 million, spent $61.3 million and started October with $30.7 million. The National Republican Congressional Committee started the month with more cash in the bank, $44 million, but raised only $12.5 million and spent $33.1 million.
The Republican National Committee, buoyed by Trump’s continued appeal to small-dollar donors, raised $26.2 million, spent $16.7 million and had $51.3 million in cash to start October. The Democratic National Committee raised $9.8 million, spent $7.5 million and ended September with $10.3 million in the bank.
Elsewhere, the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in $23.4 million in September, spent $19.5 million and started October with $15.6 million in the bank. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $10.6 million, spent $20.7 million, and started October with $22.4 million in the bank.
The Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC raised $17.7 million during the month and started October with $38.9 million in the bank after spending $8 million in September.
The House Majority PAC, which backs Democratic candidates, reported raising $14.9 million during September. It spent $12.5 million and started October with $34.6 million.
