Packed Pacs: how billionaires in the US are bankrolling Republicans at the state level
Billionaires are increasingly bankrolling Republican candidates in state legislative races across the US to push a rightwing agenda and gain long-term hegemony.
The concerted effort shows that Donald Trump ally Elon Musk, currently throwing his weight behind a candidate for Wisconsin's state supreme court, is far from alone in seeking to build influence at the grassroots.
Related: Elon Musk's quest for power has a new target: Wisconsin's supreme court
According to a research document obtained by the Guardian, the contributions are not limited to federal elections but extend to state-level campaigns and aim to influence policy at the state level. Priorities include dismantling government, targeting 'culture war' issues – particularly abortion – and advancing school privatisation.
In Virginia, for example, donors Thomas Peterffy and Jeff Yass contributed significantly to Governor Glenn Youngkin's political action committee (Pac) Spirit of Virginia. Peterffy gave $3m while Yass added $2m. Spirit of Virginia spent more than $8m supporting Republican candidates in the 2023 Virginia general assembly elections.
Democratic state house leader Don Scott was quoted by the Axios website as saying that Republicans were relying on 'nameless, faceless, out-of-state mega-donors who have been pouring millions into the Commonwealth to push right-wing policies with no regard to what Virginians actually want'.
In Michigan, the DeVos family, including former education secretary Betsy DeVos, donated more than $4.4m to state Republican candidates and causes in 2024. More than $1m combined went to the Michigan house and senate Republican Pacs.
The DeVos family is known for promoting 'school-choice policies', specifically the expansion of charter schools. The Bridge Michigan news site reported 'no individual has shaped school policy as much as Betsy DeVos', contributing to Michigan having 'some of the nation's highest concentrations of charter schools run by for-profit companies'.
In Wisconsin, Diane Hendricks and Elizabeth Uihlein contributed a combined $7m to Republican legislative campaign committees in 2024. Hendricks has a long history of influencing Wisconsin politics, including pushing for 'right-to-work' legislation. The Uihleins have backed efforts to make it harder to receive unemployment benefits, oppose Medicaid expansion and create barriers to voting.
In Pennsylvania, Yass, who is the state's wealthiest billionaire, funded Pacs that reportedly spent nearly $4.4m to unseat Pennsylvania house Democrats. Yass-affiliated Pacs supported candidates who sponsored a near-total abortion ban. Since the 2018 cycle, these Pacs gave '$370,000 to bill sponsors and cosponsors' of such legislation.
Yass also prioritises spending public funds on private education and is Pennsylvania's biggest 'school choice' donor. He told Philadelphia Magazine last year that it would be a 'good thing' if public schools 'shut down', adding: 'There is no possible way a government monopoly could be a better approach to schools than market competition.'
Republicans in Pennsylvania pushed a constitutional amendment to ban abortion in 2021 and 2022 but without success.
In Arizona, Earl 'Ken' Kendrick (owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team) and his family contributed more than $200,000 to Republican legislative candidates and Pacs during the 2024 cycle. The Kendrick family supported the retention of far-right, anti-choice judges on the state's supreme court. Legislative Republicans referred a proposal to the ballot to attempt to make these positions lifetime appointments.
Related: 'Partisan politics': how efforts to overturn the Johnson amendment could upend campaign finance
State legislative chambers, once regarded as sleepy backwaters, have become partisan battlegrounds in recent years as they have a huge impact on issues ranging from book banks to transgender rights to voting laws.
On an otherwise disastrous election night last November, Democrats held their own at state level, emerging with more legislative majorities than they managed in 2016 or 2020. In Pennsylvania, for example, they held off a red wave to defend a one-seat majority in the state house.
But that appears to be spurring on a small group of super-rich donors aiming to reshape state-level politics with a focus on issues including abortion, education and labour rights. Critics say such contributions raise questions about the role of money in politics and the influence of billionaires on the democratic process.
Bernie Sanders, an independent senator currently on a 'Fighting Oligarchy Tour' across the country, told last year's Democratic national convention in Chicago: 'Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections. For the sake of our democracy we must overturn the disastrous Citizens United supreme court decision and move toward public funding of elections.'
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