Donald J. Trump is the U.S. President again — with lots of help from wealthy Americans. Even tech executives once critical of the mercurial president have hastened to kiss the ring. Now expecting tax cuts and deregulation, the country’s deepest-pocketed individuals, financial firms, tech companies, crypto outfits, and others recently lined up to contribute a record $200 million for Trump’s inauguration.
Several Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh-area figures counted among the 45th and 47th President’s most generous financial supporters during the campaign cycle. It’s impossible to say whether they’ve donated to Trump’s inaugural fund as the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, Inc. hadn’t filed any paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by press time. However, political contributions during the campaign are public, and these give a hint as to the locals who are especially excited about Trump’s return to power, even if some of the below donors hedged their bets with a few donations to Democrats. The following totals were sourced from a combination of FEC records, news reports, and data compiled by watchdog site OpenSecrets.
Mellon baller: Though he now lives in Wyoming and spent his childhood mostly on the East Coast, Timothy Mellon is fabulously wealthy due to his status as a scion of one of Pittsburgh’s most illustrious families. Mellon, like others of his lineage, has also been a staunch supporter of Republican causes for decades. He came second only to broligarch-in-chief Elon Musk in largesse this election cycle.
Though first a supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mellon, like others, fell in line behind Trump and spent the GDP of an island nation reelecting a twice-impeached felon to the highest office in the land. He also spent the maximum allowed to help reelect Republican Representatives including firebrands Byron Donalds (Fla.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.). (Total contributions: $172 million)
Yass, queen: No Pennsylvanian has matched the magnanimity of Philly-area multibillionaire Jeff Yass. Yass donated many millions to various Republican PACs, candidates, and state Republican parties inside and outside the commonwealth this election cycle. Intriguingly, he’s also a stakeholder in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, through his own shares and his trading firm Susquehanna International, and he has sought to persuade Trump not to ban the popular app.
Yass and his wife, Janine, together, were the sixth-largest personal contributors to rightwing causes in 2024. Purely in numeric terms, there’s a vast gulf between Mellon, Yass, and the remaining super-spenders on this list. (Total contributions: approx. $100 million)
Donors Dave and Dina: In addition to running a successful bid for Senate, Dave McCormick and his wife Dina Powell McCormick, herself a former Trump appointee and a financial executive, spared no expense in electing their fellow Republicans. Both our newest Senator and his wife spread their wealth far and wide, donating to local candidates, state Republican party organizations, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), often in $10,000 increments.
A sizable part of this appears to have been spent funding Dave’s own campaign — he and Dina spent at least $1 million of their hard-earned Bridgewater and Goldman Sachs cash on unseating Democrat Bob Casey. Second time’s a charm! (Total contributions: $2.2 million combined)
Standing Tull: Like the McCormicks, Edgeworth resident Thomas Tull spread the love around during the 2024 cycle, donating to candidates and groups across the country. A billionaire former entertainment executive-turned-investor, Tull once donated $1 million to elect Hillary Clinton. This past cycle, however, he donated to numerous Republican causes across the country (including $500,000 in 2023 to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Protect the House 2024 Super PAC) while kicking in the maximum allowable donation for N.Y. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House Minority Leader. (Total contributions: $1.1 million)
EQT for the GOP: Among the charitable contributors to Republican causes in Western Pa. is the EQT Corporation. The “vertically integrated American natural gas company” gave $300,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund, which, per its website, “has one goal: to build a Republican Senate majority.” EQT also splashed out $50,000 for Team West Virginia, an Alexandria, Va.-based PAC that skews conservative. Balancing this out a bit was a $5,000 donation to the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, which makes some sense given Pa. Lt. Gov. Austin Davis’ past support of tax credits for petrochemical firms. (Total contributions: $350,000)
Other high rollers: Several other area residents donated over $100,000 to conservatives. Concast Metal Products Co. president Al Barbour and his wife, Mary, appear to have donated almost $650,000 combined to Republican causes. The Calandra family, who lead local manufacturing company JENNMAR, donated nearly $600,000 to various Republican PACs and candidates. Kent McElhattan, a Pittsburgh foundation executive and venture capitalist, made significant donations to the NRSC, McCormick’s campaign, and other conservative PACs totaling $440,000.
Rounding out the high rollers list is Gabe Hudock, an aluminum executive, who donated over $150,000 to Republicans in 2023 and 2024, and health philanthropist Nick Beckwith, who donated over $100,000 to Nikki Haley’s failed Presidential campaign, as well as McCormick and several Congressional candidates.
This is far from an exhaustive list of major donors, but all told, these donors alone contributed over $270 million to the most expensive Presidential election in history.
It’s perhaps ironic given Trump’s strong base of support among rural white Americans without a college degree that the 2024 cycle would end with some of the wealthiest people in history sitting near Trump as he’s sworn in. But if you’re a member of the elite whose main desire is more riches, you’ve probably gotten your money’s worth — Trump’s new administration could usher in the salad days for the upper 5% of Americans. What’s $100,000 or even $100 million if you can save at least that on your taxes?
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ home state. The error has been corrected above.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2025.
