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By Jenni Fink
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Billionaire Trump donor Timothy Mellon spent a record amount backing Republicans in 2024, but his donations have fallen sharply since then, reaching the lowest amount in the last decade.
Mellon, the billionaire heir to one of America's most famous banking fortunes and the largest individual donor backing President Donald Trump, significantly increased his spending to Republicans over the last year, reaching a whopping $100 million in political donations in 2024. Republicans are outfundraising Democrats heading into the midterms and have a cash advantage overall, but Democrats have outraised Republicans in some key races.
New campaign-finance data shows Mellon has contributed approximately $3.05 million during the current 2026 election cycle, a fraction of the more than $101.9 million he gave during the 2024 cycle, when he emerged as one of the most influential donors in American politics.
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The dramatic decline comes after a period of explosive growth in Mellon's political giving that helped transform him from a relatively obscure donor into the Republican Party's most important benefactor.
A Record-Breaking Rise
For most of the 21st century, Mellon was barely a presence in federal politics. According to campaign finance records, he donated just over $100,000 during the entire 2008 cycle. The bulk of those donations was a $50,000 donation to then-presidential candidate John McCain and a $28,500 donation to the Republican National Committee earmarked for McCain's campaign. Political contributions from Mellon remained modest for years before rising dramatically in the late 2010s.
During the 2018 cycle, Mellon had given around $10.05 million at this point in the election campaign, marking the first time he emerged as a major Republican financier. His giving then surged again during the 2020 cycle, when he contributed more than $40.16 million at this point in the campaign as Trump sought re-election.
Rather than slowing after Trump's 2020 loss, Mellon continued to support Republican causes. He donated approximately $10.57 million by mid-July during the 2022 cycle, helping GOP candidates and committees ahead of the midterm elections.
But it was the 2024 cycle that set Mellon apart from virtually every other donor in the country.
His contributions exploded to nearly $140 million total, including $102 million by July of that year, making him one of the largest Republican donors in modern American political history and a critical source of financial support for pro-Trump organizations.
The Current Slowdown
That massive spending spree has not continued into the current election cycle. A Newsweek analysis of donations found Mellon has donated only about $3 million for the 2026 election. That's well below the totals he posted in recent years and represents a drop of roughly 97 percent from his 2024 spending levels, and a 71 percent drop from the 2022 midterms.
The decline is notable because Mellon had been on an almost uninterrupted upward trajectory. Between 2018 and 2024, his donations generally increased with each major presidential election, reflecting his growing influence in Republican politics and his support for Trump-aligned candidates and causes.
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Since there are still primaries taking place, it's possible Mellon will still increase his political donations before the November election. Still, the contrast with 2024 and 2022 is striking. By this point in the last cycle, Mellon was already establishing himself as one of the GOP's dominant financial figures. Today, his contributions remain substantial by ordinary standards but are modest compared with the extraordinary sums he recently deployed.
Newsweek reached out to Mellon through his foundation via email but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Are All of Trump's Donors Pulling Back?
Unlike Mellon, Miriam Adelson, one of Trump's other top donors, has increased her donations this year from the 2022 midterms. At this point in the 2022 election cycle, Adelson had given candidates $25 million. This year, she's already given candidates over $43 million. The bulk of those donations went to the Senate Leadership Fund, a top Republican super PAC, which she gave $30 million to in March.
Elon Musk, who worked with Trump as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has donated over $85 million to campaigns this election cycle, a sharp increase from 2022. During the 2022 election cycle, Musk gave less than $5,000, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Newsweek.
While Mellon's donations have dropped according to FEC records, he's found other ways to support the Trump administration. Mellon gave the Department of Defense $130 million in the fall to cover the salaries of military personnel during the government shutdown.
“That’s what I call a patriot,” Trump told reporters at the time.
Anna Massoglia, a political finance expert and former investigations manager at OpenSecrets, told Newsweek that it's hard to know why Mellon's donations have dropped off, but it's possible he's using these other avenues instead of doing donations that are registered with the FEC.
"There have been new opportunities for donors to exert influence and to donate in other ways," Massoglia said. "I know just a few weeks ago there was news that Mellon had given to Kennedy's anti-vaccine group to a non-profit, which would not show up in federal election commission filing."
What Happens Next
The key question for Republicans is whether Mellon's current slowdown represents a lasting shift or merely a temporary pause.
There are several possible explanations for why Mellon's funding has decreased. The most straightforward is timing. Because 2026 is a midterm cycle rather than a presidential election year, donors may see less urgency in making early investments. Mellon could ultimately ramp up spending as competitive House and Senate contests take shape.
Another possibility is that the extraordinary circumstances of 2024—when Trump was seeking a return to the White House and outside groups were heavily engaged in the election—simply motivated a level of spending that is unlikely to be repeated regularly. Whatever the reason, the numbers show that Mellon is no longer donating at the breathtaking pace that defined the last election cycle.
For now, Mellon remains one of the party's most important financiers. But the latest campaign-finance filings show that the donor who helped define the 2024 election is no longer shaping the 2026 cycle in the same way. Whether he returns to the political spending levels that made him the Republican Party's biggest benefactor—or remains on the sidelines—could become one of the most closely watched questions in the race for control of Congress.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gray R. Thomas
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