Who were the biggest losers in the midterm elections this year? Republican mega-donors.
Republican mega-donors poured millions into candidates that no amount of money could sell to voters, according to The Guardian.
With the balance of power at stake in the midterm elections, the GOP mega-donors spent millions upon millions on advertisements and drumming up votes.
Many donors’ spending figures marked new records. Their return on investment, however, is probably not what they had hoped.
Some donors who spent eight figures notched zero wins in the Senate, while others spent far more money on losing candidates than winners.
Among the clearest of those losers is Mehmet Oz, who self-funded much of his own failed run for office. He poured about $22 million into his Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, making up about 55 percent of the roughly $40 million he raised.
Candidates backed by Peter Thiel, the rightwing tech investor hyped pre-election as a new GOP “kingmaker”, lost in Arizona and Washington, calling into question his judgment and contributions’ value.
Other mega-donors and Pacs came out behind despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars collectively on multiple candidates who lost, according to Open Secrets, a campaign finance watchdog, and federal campaign records.
Among those is Mitch McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund Super Pac, which spent $239 million; the billionaire financier Jeff Yass, who spent $47 million; the hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who spent $67 million; the packaging giants Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein, who spent $77 million; and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who spent $34 million.
Experts say that the results highlighted that candidate strength matters.
Voters have real concerns over crime, inflation, gas prices, and the economy, but really poor candidates got beat up hard despite the funding.
Oz was a “uniquely weak candidate”, experts said, and his failure highlights how wealth and Super PAC money “is not the end all be all”.
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