According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s Exposed project (https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/05/27/chicago-billionaire-ken-griffin-now-the-largest-gop-political-donor/), in three previous election cycles—2015 through 2020—”the largest GOP donor had been Sheldon Adelson, a casino owner who, with his wife, Miriam, gave a total of $413 million to Republican federal candidates, party committees, and other super PACs. But in the wake of Adelson’s death in January 2021, his wife has yet to make major political contributions to this year’s campaigns.”
Since January 2021, Griffin “has already contributed more than $94.6 million to Republican candidates and committees at the federal and state level,” CMD’s Don Wiener reported in late May.
Weiner noted that “One reason Griffin is standing out as the largest state-level contributor in the country is because of a law in Illinois that removes limits on campaign contributions when a wealthy candidate spends heavily with their own money—a law intended to level the playing field. However, given the preponderance of billionaires and near-billionaires funding their own campaigns in the state, the law is instead allowing ever-escalating amounts of money to influence political races in Illinois.”