Anna Hartz
Money has always shaped politics, but in recent years the influence of the super-rich in the United States has reached new heights.
Billionaires are no longer just donating quietly behind the scenes. They are reshaping elections, policy, and even who holds office.
Over the past 25 years, the gap between financial and political power in America has grown sharply. Political donations from the richest Americans have surged far faster than overall campaign spending.
Feeling Responsibility to Influence Politics
Last year, New York billionaire John Catsimatidis gave $2.4 million to support Donald Trump and Republican congressional candidates, according to Digi24. That is nearly double what he donated in 2016. Catsimatidis said he feels a responsibility to influence U.S. politics. “If you’re a billionaire, you want to stay a billionaire,” he said. “I worry about America and the lifestyle we have.”
Elon Musk has donated a total of $294 million to Republican candidates, including Trump, for federal and state elections in 2024. Overall, the 100 richest Americans contributed more than $1 billion to federal elections last year.
This is a sharp increase compared with the early 2000s, when donations from this group made up just 0.25% of total federal election spending. By 2024, it accounted for 7.5%. In other words, for every $13 spent in last year’s presidential election, $1 came from the country’s wealthiest people.
Richest Cabinet in US History
The wealth gap in the United States is now greater than at any time since the Gilded Age. Courts have lifted limits on campaign contributions, allowing unlimited spending during elections.
Many billionaires are moving beyond donations. At least 44 of the 902 Americans on the Forbes 2025 billionaire list, or their spouses, have held significant federal or state offices in the past decade. This includes figures such as Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, and JB Pritzker, governor of Illinois.
Trump’s 2025 cabinet is the richest in U.S. history, with a combined fortune of $7.5 billion. At his inauguration, at least 17 billionaires with over $1 trillion in wealth were present, including Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bernard Arnault. Critics warn that the growing political influence of billionaires risks turning the United States into an oligarchy.
Catsimatidis defended his involvement, saying Trump makes “rational decisions that a businessman would make on behalf of the United States.” But many Americans see the concentration of wealth and power as a new era, where the richest people hold unprecedented sway over the country’s political future.
Sources: Digi24, Washington Post
