Adelsons Giving $55M In 2018, Making Them Biggest Spenders In U.S. Politics
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(JTA) — Casino mogul and Jewish megadonor Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have given $55 million in the last few months to groups working to ensure Republican control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections.
The donations make them the “biggest spenders on federal elections in all of American politics,” the New York Time reported Saturday, citing publicly available campaign finance data.
The couple are very involved in how their money is being spent, meeting with the consultants and political strategists at Adelson’s office in Las Vegas, the newspaper reported. They ask pointed questions and demand campaign plans, preferably in writing, according to the report.
The article noted more than a dozen people who know the Adelsons who were interviewed for the article say that Sheldon Adelson’s relationship with President Donald Trump is not about personal affinity but on a “mutual appreciation for something both men have built their careers on: the transaction.”
The Adelsons have given much of the money to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC allied with House Speaker Paul Ryan, and the Senate Leadership Fund, which has close ties to Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader.
In the 2014 midterm elections, when Republicans were in a much stronger political position nationally, the Adelsons donated $382,000 to federal campaigns and gave $5.5 million to election efforts overall. In the 2016 election they donated $46.5 million by this point in the election cycle.
Adelson, a major giver to Jewish and pro-Israel causes, was among the biggest givers to President Trump’s campaign and his inauguration.
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