Over the last five years, 50 billionaires and 17 spouses of billionaires have donated to Manchin’s campaign committee or leadership PAC, according to a review of Federal Election Commission data. About one third of Manchin’s billionaire supporters live in New York, and about one third of the group’s fortunes stem from the financial industry. Among them: activist investor Nelson Peltz, who told CNBC last month that he speaks with Manchin “every week.”
Other notable donors include Bill and Melinda Gates, who donated $12,800 in 2020, before their divorce. Gates has written about favoring higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but Manchin helped him avoid an estimated $14.9 billion tax bill for 2020 and 2021 when the senator quashed the proposal for a billionaires’ tax last month.
Manchin, who personally owns stakes in fossil-fuel businesses and opposed President Joe Biden’s clean energy program, has received contributions from seven billionaires whose fortunes stem from oil and gas. Two of Donald Trump’s biggest donors, Energy Transfer CEO Kelcy Warren and Continental Resources chairman Harold Hamm, have donated to Manchin this year.
Nearly half of the senator’s donors supported Biden during the 2020 election, either directly or through a spouse, while about 20% supported Trump. About one third did not contribute to either presidential candidate’s campaign. While most of Biden’s donors made their contributions three or four years ago, most of the Trump donors have only started donating this year—as Manchin has helped curtail several Democratic proposals. |
