- Michael Bloomberg donated $50 million to a nonprofit supporting Harris' campaign, per the NYT.
- Other billionaires and Democratic donors pressured Bloomberg to make a donation for months.
- It remains unclear why Bloomberg, known for public donations, wanted the gift to remain private.
Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and presidential candidate, recently donated around $50 million to a nonprofit organization supporting Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, according to the New York Times. The check, however, reportedly only came after months of pressure from other billionaires and Democratic donors.
Though Bloomberg typically makes public campaign donations, he intended for this contribution to remain secret, the Times reported. He funneled the money to Future Forward USA Action, the arm of Harris' primary super PAC that deals in dark money. Worth an approximate $105 billion according to Forbes, the 82-year-old has a pattern of making donations late in the election cycle.
Harris has demonstrated remarkable fundraising capabilities, from grassroots donors and the mega-wealthy alike. Some of her most prominent supporters include business titans from either coast, including prominent Wall Street executives and Silicon Valley leaders. Bloomberg refrained from shelling out big bucks even as figures like LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates urged him to do so.
The former mayor recently sat down with Harris' economic team to discuss her agenda, the Times reported, as part of an attempt to make him feel respected. Harris herself hopped on a call with the billionaire, and he donated the money soon after, according to the Times. It remains unclear why he wanted the contribution to remain private.
Despite only becoming a registered Democrat in 2018, Bloomberg is the second largest known individual donor to Democrats this cycle, behind George Soros. Apart from his secretive $50 million gift, he has doled out $47 million in federally disclosed contributions. Yet the sum pales in comparison to his 2020 donations, when he spent $173 million, not including the $1.1 billion he directed toward his own campaign.
Trump has amassed his own army of billionaire donors, including Elon Musk and Timothy Mellon.
A representative for Bloomberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.