The Democratic Party could soon have a very big problem on its hands.
For years, Bill Gates has been one of its biggest donors, both publicly and through shadowy funding groups.
According to new reports, Gates is shutting off the faucet to dark money, which will leave a huge hole for Democrats to fill in what is expected to be a difficult run of elections.
When it comes to donors, few on the left donate more to the cause than Bill Gates.
For instance, during the 2024 cycle, he reportedly dropped $50 million on Kamala Harris' presidential campaign alone, but she still lost.
Gates did not even endorse Harris publicly, and he wanted to keep his funding quiet, but you don’t write checks like that and not have it get out. When asked about his donation, Gates responded, “I support candidates who demonstrate a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change in the U.S. and around the world."
He continued, “I have a long history of working with leaders across the political spectrum, but this election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world.”
Dark money donations have been growing in this country to the point that I believe they need to be stopped (I would actually like to see all PACs and out-of-state donations stopped).
They are more or less shell companies that accept unlimited donations from donors, usually keeping their names hidden, which are in turn spent on campaigns.
During the 2020 election, dark money groups disbursed about $1 billion.
Amid the 2024 cycle, that number nearly doubled, as a reported $1.9 billion in dark money was poured into the campaign, which dominated the roughly $3.2 billion spent on the election.
While the Gates Foundation has been very active in the political world, funneling donations to these dark-money organizations, a report surfaced this week that the Foundation has stopped writing those checks, and has not been since the summer started.
In June, the organization announced, “Teams are increasingly working directly with programmatic partners -- organizations that are deeply embedded in the communities we serve and closely aligned with our mission. As we look ahead, this is a chance to build deeper, more durable relationships with those partners — and to reinforce the kind of legacy we want to leave behind.”
The Foundation has reportedly severed ties with Arabella, founded by a former Clinton staffer, after it was revealed by Musk that his companies were under attack by groups associated with Arabella and ActBlue, a major fundraising wing of the Democratic Party. Now, I am not saying that this was the reason Gates ended his relationship, but the timing is worth noting.
I would say Gates is likely in the top five of all Democratic Party donors, and that is a lot of money to replace with not much time to get it in the till, as the 2026 election cycle is about to heat up. This is great news for the GOP, which is facing a historically tough election.
