Mega-Donors Raise $1 Billion for Hillary Clinton

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has raised over $1 billion for her campaign with the help of some mega-donors.

Clinton, with the party and pro-Clinton super PACs, had raised $1.14 billion in support of her campaign by the end of September, about the same amount as what Obama raised in 2012 for his re-election campaign, the Washington Post reports.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who did not start aggressively fundraising until May, had collected $712 million, including $56 million of his own money.

Part of Clinton’s advantage in fundraising comes from her decision to embrace super PACs from the start of the presidential race, helping her to get more out of donors than Obama did.

A Washington Post analysis found that more than a fifth of the $1 billion donated to her campaign was given by just 100 wealthy individuals and labor unions, many with a long history of donating to the Clintons.

The analysis included contributions to her campaigns, joint fundraising committees, national parties, convention host committees, and single-candidate super PACs.

The top five donors to Clinton’s campaign combined gave one out of every $17 to her presidential bid.

Her top donors included hedge fund manager S. Donald Sussman ($20.6 million); Chicago venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker and his wife, M.K. ($16.7 million); Univision chairman Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl ($11.9 million); hedge fund titan George Soros ($9.9 million); and SlimFast founder S. Daniel Abraham ($9.7 million).

Clinton kept these donors in her circle because she consistently wooed competing interests groups and donors from Wall Street and tech companies in addition to her liberal base.