Griffin pours $40M into GOP midterm push, focuses on Senate races

Senate Leadership Fund gets $10M gift from Citadel founder

Senate focus reflects post-Trump strategy for Citadel founder’s giving

Billionaire Ken Griffin has invested roughly $40 million into this year’s midterm campaigns to help the GOP hold its House and Senate majorities — a total that people familiar with his giving said could easily double by November, according to details shared by two people familiar with his giving.

The founder and chief executive of investing giant Citadel, worth more than an estimated $50 billion, is focusing heavily on Senate races. His single-largest gift so far this year was $10 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).

Griffin also gave $6.5 million to three groups backing individual GOP Senate candidates: Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska, Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa and Sen. Susan Collins in Maine. The Sullivan and Collins groups received $2.5 million each, while the one backing Hinson got $1.5 million.

Alaska and Maine are rated as tossup races by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Iowa is listed as leaning Republican despite being a state President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024. The Democratic side of the Maine contest has fallen into chaos following the implosion of Graham Platner’s campaign and his exit from the race, according to Cook’s ratings and reporting.

Griffin has no plans to help state Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, the people familiar with his giving said. Cook rates that race as lean Republican, but some in the GOP have expressed concern about Paxton’s long history of legal and ethical scandals.

The people familiar with Griffin’s giving said he is focused on the Senate and its six-year terms because he believes that is where his money can have the greatest long-term impact in preparing the GOP for after Trump’s term ends in January 2029.

Alex Latcham, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, said Griffin periodically speaks with Thune about campaigns, policy and the direction of the party. Latcham said Griffin is “into the details of these races in a way that a lot of donors are not” and wants to know about strategies for winning before giving.

In the 2024 election cycle, Griffin was the nation’s fifth-biggest donor, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets watchdog group. The $108 million he gave was equivalent to about 37% of the total contributed by top donor Elon Musk.

In 2024, Griffin was one of the most prominent conservatives on Wall Street to not back Trump. He contributed $5 million to the super PAC supporting former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the last major GOP candidate to drop out of the primary Trump won. Griffin voted for Trump but has said it was “not with a smile on my face.” After the election, he gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee and has praised his border policies and efforts to reduce fentanyl trafficking. He has also criticized Trump’s tariffs and his challenges to the Federal Reserve’s independence.

Griffin likes to support people who put policy and principles such as personal freedom and fiscal discipline over personalities and partisanship, according to those familiar with his giving.

In May, he gave $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC affiliated with House Republican leadership. He gave an additional $5.5 million to two other groups focused on GOP House races, including one that backs candidates who are veterans.

Chris Winkelman, president of the Congressional Leadership Fund, said, “I am able to fully fund these races because of his steady investment cycle over cycle.”

Last week, Griffin made headlines when Axios reported he said at a private conference that he would support Secretary of State Marco Rubio over Vice President JD Vance in a 2028 GOP presidential primary. A person familiar with his remarks confirmed the report but said the question posed to Griffin offered only those two men as options. The billionaire put $5 million into a super-PAC backing Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid, when Trump also was a candidate, and has never donated to the president’s campaigns.