{"id":4955,"date":"2026-08-05T11:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4955"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:11:08","slug":"billionaires-have-been-flooding-the-midterms-with-cash-but-one-of-the-gops-most-reliable-megadonors-just-went-silent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4955","title":{"rendered":"Billionaires have been flooding the midterms with cash, but one of the GOP\u2019s most reliable megadonors just went silent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ronald Lauder, the billionaire heir to cosmetics conglomerate Est\u00e9e Lauder and longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, has pumped tens of millions of dollars into Republican campaigns over the past couple of decades, campaign donation records show.\u00a0So much so that the NYT <\/em>even referred to him as a \u201cone-man bank for Republicans in New York.\u201d <\/p>\n

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But their report shows Lauder, 82, appears to have stopped his political donations, which goes against the grain of billionaires flooding the GOP zone ahead of midterms. According to Federal Election Commission records, the last political donation he made was in January for just $5,000 to Security is Strength PAC, a conservative super PAC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Compare that to just two years earlier, when he made a $250,000 donation to the Truth & Courage PAC to help secure Sen. Ted Cruz\u2019s reelection campaign in Texas; or his more than $13 million in donations between 2020 and 2022 to Safe Together New York Inc., a Super PAC to support Lee Zeldin\u2019s 2022 gubernatorial campaign in New York. <\/p>\n

The January 2026 donation of $5,000 also pales in comparison both to megadonations he\u2019s made to the party in the past and how much other donors are throwing at Republicans this election season. Take, for example, his $5 million donation to MAGA Inc. in 2025. Elon Musk also donated $5 million to MAGA Inc. around the same time, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Billionaires donating to Republican campaigns<\/h2>\n

Billionaires have poured hundreds of millions into the 2026 midterms, and most of it is backing Republicans.\u00a0American billionaires have already poured more than $433 million into the 2026 midterms, and nearly 80 cents of every donated dollar is backing Republicans, according to a report by the Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), a progressive advocacy group. And in race after race, the bigger checkbook wins: The higher-spending House candidate prevails more than 90% of the time, according to research from OpenSecrets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While one donor going quiet doesn\u2019t drastically move those numbers, it matters more that New York is losing a major political donor. In New York, Lauder has been one of the Republican Party\u2019s most reliable donors for decades. He bankrolled a 1990s term-limits campaign in New York City and helped fund a lawsuit challenging the state\u2019s congressional map.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Now that he\u2019s pulled back from political donations, Republicans could feel that pain more as Gov. Kathy Hochul will defend her seat in the November election. Gerard Kassar, who chairs the state Conservative Party, told the NYT<\/em> no one can replace Lauder as a funder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be sure, money isn\u2019t everything in politics. While the higher-spending candidate usually wins, strategists who raise and spend that money are the first to say it has limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Christopher Lee, a former DCCC regional political director, previously told Fortune<\/em> donor money \u201cputs you in the room\u201d\u2014it buys the ads, the data, and the field operations that let a campaign compete at all. But money can\u2019t manufacture a reason for voters to say yes. Maggie Paulin, a vice president at the Republican firm Campaign Solutions, also told The Hill<\/em> that \u201cmoney matters immensely in campaign politics, but donor dollars are not destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not entirely clear why Lauder stopped giving to political campaigns, but sources told NYT <\/em>one potential reason could be his adult children are slowing his spending as their family fortune shrinks. (The man is still worth nearly $5 billion as of Tuesday). Another potential reason could be he\u2019s simplifying his life to focus instead on his legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Est\u00e9e Lauder\u2019s stock has dropped nearly 75% during the past five years, and nearly all of Lauder\u2019s stake is tied up. As of July 31, 2025, he had pledged about 99% of his Class B shares to a bank as collateral for a loan, according to the company\u2019s most recent proxy statement. The filing doesn\u2019t name the bank or spell out the loan\u2019s terms. Lauder has also been selling real estate and a collection of World War II fighter planes among the assets, according to the NYT <\/em>report. Lauder also reportedly dismissed the longtime advisors and ad makers who ran his political operation, the NYT <\/em>report shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Representatives for Lauder didn\u2019t immediately respond to Fortune<\/em>\u2018s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Lauder also appears to be trading influence for legacy. In May, he announced his Neue Galerie, the Upper East Side museum he founded, would merge with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has also said he won\u2019t seek reelection as president of the World Jewish Congress, ending a run of nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, when I first started, no one had money, so I paid the money,\u201d he told eJewishPhilanthropy <\/em>in a July interview. \u201cBut your schools now have parents who are wealthy \u2026 I want you to get used to having parents give you money because I don\u2019t want you to get so caught up that someday, when I\u2019m not here, you\u2019re gonna be in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Elon Musk delivers \u2018totally nuts\u2019 plans for moon robots and insists $1 trillion revenue target will hit but capex tanks SpaceX on debut earnings<\/a><\/p>\n

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Ronald Lauder spent tens of millions backing Republicans over two decades. 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