October 7, 2026
- New York’s 138 billionaires control $874 billion of national wealth as of September 1st. That is up $106 billion (14%) just since November of 2024.
- New York’s billionaire class has spent $326 million to influence the outcomes of federal 2026 midterm elections, this is on top of the $18 million they spent in an attempt to defeat now New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani in 2025.
- Democratic committees and liberal outside spending groups received $149 million from New York billionaires, while Republican committees and conservative outside spending groups received $160 million from New York billionaires.
- The top New York billionaires federal election spenders are George Soros & family ($104 million), Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss ($72 million), Stephen & Christine Schwarzman ($32 million), Michael Bloomberg ($20 million), and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick & family ($15 million)
- As of August 28th, billionaires have contributed $5.1 million directly to New York candidates running for federal office and $850,000 to state & local party committees. Outside spending groups—primarily Super PACs—have flooded New York’s airwaves and mailboxes with nearly $27 million of billionaire sourced political spending for federal candidates. With the general election just weeks away, expect this figure to grow dramatically.
- The races for New York’s 12th and 15th Congressional districts have received the most billionaire spending, $23 million and $2.5 million respectively.
- New York 12th’s open-seat primary was a firehose of big-tech spending with silicon valley billionaires spending heavily on both sides of the race. Alex Borres got $4 million of billionaires backing through outside spending groups, but was hit with $8 million of billionaire attack spending. The winner of the primary received the support of roughly $11 million billionaires outside spending.
- Incumbent Richie Torrse (NY-15) faced a modestly competitive primary challenge but billionaires took no chances in a potential upset and spent $2.5 million in positive ads on his behalf.
- Dark Money groups, who don’t have to reveal their donor lists, have spent at least $12.7 million to influence the midterm elections in New York.