Ken Griffin, GOP Megadonor and Rubio Fan, Is All in on 2026

Photo: Carina Johansen/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge-fund manager who’s made it clear that he doesn’t care much for J.D. Vance and would prefer to see the vice-president go back to Ohio come January 2029, has opened up his essentially limitless checkbook in the hopes of keeping Congress in Republican hands this fall and putting his stamp on the party beyond Donald Trump’s time in the White House.

The Citadel founder, who’s worth more than $50 billion and was the fifth-biggest political donor during the 2024 election cycle, has contributed some $40 million to midterm races, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The donations, which could “easily double by November,” have thus far included money for the Senate Leadership Fund ($10 million); groups supporting Maine senator Susan Collins ($2.5 million), Alaska senator Dan Sullivan ($2.5 million), and Iowa representative Ashley Hinson, who is running to replace Senator Joni Ernst; and the Congressional Leadership Fund ($5 million). Maine and Alaska are currently viewed as competitive races that could go either way; Iowa is also looking close, despite the fact that Trump won the state by 13 points in 2024. Democrats are thought to have a better shot at winning the House than the Senate, though as the Washington Post reported this week, the party’s “once long-shot chances to take over the Senate have improved as economic pressures sour voters’ outlook and President Donald Trump’s approval ratings drop in key Republican strongholds.”

But Griffin is also looking beyond midterms, as the Journal reported that he has “said he is focused on the Senate and its six-year terms, in part, because he believes that is where his money can have the greatest long-term impact in trying to prepare the GOP for after Trump’s term ends in January 2029.”

Griffin spent $108 million on political races in 2024, though he very conspicuously did not donate to Trump (nor did he donate to Trump’s first and second presidential campaigns). Instead, the hedge-fund manager gave $5 million to the super-PAC supporting Nikki Haley’s bid for office, the one that involved calling the then-ex-POTUS “unhinged” and “not qualified” to be president. Once Haley was out, Griffin reportedly urged Trump not to pick J.D. Vance as his running mate — which makes last week’s news at Sun Valley that he’d support Marco Rubio in 2028 over the VP not hugely surprising. (Griffin gave $5 million to a super-PAC supporting Rubio’s 2016 run for the White House.) Griffin’s more local political battle has been with Zohran Mamdani after the mayor name-checked him in front of his $238 million penthouse.

Obviously, the Citadel founder is far from the only rich-as-fuck person attempting to sway the outcome of the midterms. Last month, the Post reported that major donors have spent more than $1.3 billion so far with $880 million of that figure coming from Republican-supporting individuals, $290 million from Democrat-supporting donors, and $200 million from “bipartisan and special interest groups.” The top donors to date are billionaire George Soros ($102 million); venture capitalists Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen ($91.2 million); trillionaire Elon Musk ($85.1 million); financier Jeff Yass and his wife, education advocate Janine Yass ($83.7 million); and Sheldon Adelson’s widow, Miriam Adelson ($67.6 million).