Direct corporate political spending reached new heights during the 2026 midterms, with hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into federal-level campaigns, according to government campaign finance data.
This spending represents an evolution in American elections in the years following the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which in part allowed companies to use money from their corporate treasuries to advocate for or against political candidates.
Geosor Corp. — liberal billionaire George Soros’ investment firm — blockchain company Ripple and industrial conglomerate Koch Inc. lead all corporations in direct political spending, according to federal data compiled by nonpartisan research organization OpenSecrets.
Two cryptocurrency giants — Crypto.com’s parent company and Coinbase — as well as two gambling sportsbooks — DraftKings and FanDuel — also rank among the nation’s largest corporate political spenders, according to OpenSecrets.
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Tobacco company Altria, private prison and reentry company GEO Group and oil companies Chevron and Occidental Petroleum have also each spent millions of dollars on federal-level politics so far this election cycle.
The corporations, which have significant legal, regulatory and sometimes government contracting business with the federal government, have donated most of this money to various super PACs, which may raise and spend unlimited amounts to promote or attack political candidates.
The most popular recipient of direct corporate contributions this election cycle: President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC.
Until recently, most corporations avoided making direct political contributions for fear of reputational injury and customer blowback.
Instead, they’d often prefer to make indirect contributions through politically active “dark money” nonprofits or stick strictly to making contributions funded by corporate executives through traditional political action committees, which are limited to $5,000 per candidate per election, and $15,000 to national party committees per year.
OpenSecrets has tracked $654 million in direct corporate donations this cycle, while a newly released report from progressive think tank Public Citizen pegs the total at $737 million — a 60% increase from an already record-breaking 2024 cycle.
“Following the Citizens United ruling, corporations mostly held back from exploiting their new ability to spend unlimited sums on elections,” Public Citizen wrote in its report. “The norm against direct engagement by Big Business is eroding.”
After cryptocurrency — which makes up just over a fifth of all corporate spending this cycle — the “casino, racetracks & gambling” and “private equity & investment firms” industries directly spent the most on federal elections this cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
Corporations spent money to support conservative interests at four times the rate of liberal ones, OpenSecrets found. Corporate donors gave over $370 million to conservative interests alone, according to the organization.
This doesn’t count corporate “dark money,” which remains a major force in politics. This means what’s readily known about corporate political spending is “most definitely an undercount,” said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen.
Few of the corporations The Washington Sun reached out to for an interview regarding their political spending responded, and Ripple declined to comment.
Circle — a major cryptocurrency and financial technology company — and its subsidiary donated more than $4 million this cycle. However, it didn’t just support one party, instead donating $500,000 to the Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC and the same amount to Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund.
“Circle supports candidates from both parties who want clear digital asset rules that protect consumers, advance American innovation, and reinforce the U.S. dollar’s global role,” the company told The Sun in a statement.
OpenSecrets tracked over $8.8 million in contributions from Pivotal Ventures this cycle, some of which went to Democratic-supporting organizations Women Vote!, Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy PAC and Womencount PAC.
Pivotal Ventures is a private investment firm founded by billionaire Melinda French Gates that focuses on women’s issues across the globe. A spokesperson for the firm emphasized to The Sun that the company’s political investments reflect the organization’s mission.
Components of health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group donated $5 million to MAGA Inc. early last year, according to FEC data. UnitedHealth Group gave less than $27,000 to liberal recipients, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis.
Like Circle, Anthony Marusic, a spokesperson for UnitedHealth, told The Sun in an email that the company has “a long history of bipartisan policy engagement, and we support elected officials who share our commitment to making healthcare more affordable and accessible.”
Fairshake, a super PAC fueled by the cryptocurrency industry, helped supercharge the trend toward direct political spending in elections, said Brendan Glavin, the director of insights at OpenSecrets. Corporations are increasingly inclined to decide, “We’re going to pick the candidates that we like and we’re going to spend heavily in their races,’” Glavin said.
But why is this happening now? Crypto and AI, relatively new industries, have lots of cash to work with, while at the same time “there’s a lot of money at stake with the regulatory issues,” Glavin said.
“Everything’s moving very fast in AI, and there’s a lot of questions about regulation,” he said. “And crypto, they’re trying to get legislation through that is favorable to them, and that’s been held up.”
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