NYTimes | They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male,
in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black
and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an
archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of
cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a
dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two:
finance and energy.
Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families,
along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in
the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found.
Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so
much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized
by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.
These donors’ fortunes reflect the shifting
composition of the country’s economic elite. Relatively few work in the
traditional ranks of corporate America, or hail from dynasties of
inherited wealth. Most built their own businesses, parlaying talent and
an appetite for risk into huge wealth: They founded hedge funds in New
York, bought up undervalued oil leases in Texas, made blockbusters in
Hollywood. More than a dozen of the elite donors were born outside the
United States, immigrating from countries like Cuba, the old Soviet
Union, Pakistan, India and Israel.
But regardless of industry, the families investing
the most in presidential politics overwhelmingly lean right,
contributing tens of millions of dollars to support Republican
candidates who have pledged to pare regulations; cut taxes on income,
capital gains and inheritances; and shrink entitlement programs. While
such measures would help protect their own wealth, the donors describe
their embrace of them more broadly, as the surest means of promoting
economic growth and preserving a system that would allow others to
prosper, too.
