During each election cycle, hedge fund managers typically donate millions of dollars to presidential candidates and political causes, sometimes hoping that certain political outcomes — such as lower corporate tax rates or reduced governmental regulation of the financial industry — could benefit their business goals. Of course, a few million is small change for those whose net worth runs in the billions of dollars.
Those who skew toward the Republican Party tend to support conservative efforts, such as preserving American values and traditions, a strong military, and stricter immigration policies, while Democratic Party supporters espouse social issues such as climate change, universal and affordable healthcare, and education.
Typically, these managers' money finds its way into PACs (political action committees) and Super PACS (which are independent expenditure-only political committees), which finance ads for and against candidates’ campaigns, among other things. For example, a donor could earmark money toward an interest group, which might run advertisements for a candidate’s campaign run or pay for a canvassing effort to gather supporters for a ballot measure in a particular area.
Related: What are hedge funds and how do they work?
5 hedge fund managers & their political party affiliations
Here are five relatively high-profile hedge fund executives who stand out in their politics.
Net worth and assets under management data are compiled from various sources including the hedge funds’ websites, Forbes, and Bloomberg, and others.
Kenneth Griffin
- Party leaning: Republican
- Net worth: $35 billion
- Hedge fund: Citadel (owner and founder)
- Assets under management: $63 billion
Griffin donated about $100 million to conservative causes and Republican candidates running for election in 2020, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign finance. Of that, almost half — $46.75 million — went to the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike.
Since then, Griffin has contributed tens of millions of dollars more, including donations to campaigns and PACs in the 2024 election, such as the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund to elect Republicans. In the past, he reportedly donated to Democratic candidates, including President Barack Obama.
Paul Singer
- Party leaning: Republican
- Net worth: $6.1 billion
- Hedge fund: Elliott Investment Management (co-CEO and founder)
- Assets under management: $65.5 billion
While not nearly as much of a mega-donor as Griffin, Paul Singer has spent millions of dollars over the past few decades to support Republican political efforts, OpenSecrets data show.
Singer’s nonprofit, the Paul E. Singer Foundation, has supported conservative causes and initiatives, including free-market economics and U.S. national security, as well as some liberal interests such as LGBTQ equality and health care.
George Soros
- Party leaning: Democratic
- Net worth: $6.5 billion
- Hedge fund: Soros Fund Management (founder)
- Assets under management: $25 billion
George Soros has donated billions of dollars toward Democratic Party candidates and organizations over the past few decades, and he is often a target of criticism by Republican leaders. His Open Society Foundations use contributions to support Democratic candidates and groups.
Recently, reported donations linked to Soros included $60 million toward the 2024 elections, such as a PAC aiming to bring more voters to the Democratic Party in Texas. In 2022, Soros gave $125 million to Democracy PAC, which he helped to form in 2019 for the 2020 elections.
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S. Donald Sussman
Party leaning: Democratic
Net worth: $615 million
Hedge fund: Paloma Partners (chairman and founder)
Assets under management: $26 billion
Donald Sussman has donated millions of dollars toward Democratic Party candidates and causes. A longtime supporter of the Clintons since the 1990s, Sussman reportedly gave $21 million to a Super PAC backing Hillary Clinton in her unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.
OpenSecrets showed that he contributed millions of dollars to Super PACs in 2020, including large donations to the Women Vote! Super PAC and has spent millions more ahead of the November 2024 elections.
Ray Dalio
- Party leaning: None
- Net worth: $15 billion
- Hedge fund: Bridgewater Associates (founder)
- Assets under management: $124 billion
Ray Dalio wrote in a LinkedIn post in 2023 that he was apolitical but considered himself “a strong bipartisan moderate.” He argued that the battle to monitor wasn’t between the Republicans and Democrats but between moderates and extremists, and that he would support the strongest and smartest moderates to be elected.
One of Dalio’s last publicly known political donations was $5,000 in 1998 to the Freedom & Free Enterprise PAC for the election of Republican candidates. Lately, Dalio donates through his nonprofit, Dalio Philanthropies, which focuses on issues such education and healthcare.
Other hedge fund managers and their politics
Other notable figures in the hedge fund industry to monitor in upcoming elections include Robert Mercer, a former CEO of Renaissance Technologies, Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, and Steve Cohen, founder of Point72 Asset Management.
Mercer was a major supporter of Donald Trump in his successful presidential run in the 2016 election.
Ackman considered himself a "Bill Clinton Democrat” but reportedly recently questioned his association with the Democratic Party following issues of antisemitism and “racist” diversity initiatives.
Cohen has supported both Democratic and Republican causes but has recently aligned more closely with Republicans.
