Trump and Harris break bipartisan tradition by withholding top donors

Neither Vice President Harris nor former President Trump have voluntarily disclosed their top campaign fundraisers as of Election Day, upending a bipartisan tradition that dates back to 2000.

Campaigns are not legally required to disclose their top fundraisers, often referred to as “bundlers,” unless they are an active, registered federal lobbyist.  But since President George W. Bush disclosed the names of “Pioneers” who had raised at least $100,000 for his 2000 campaign, at least one presidential nominee has disclosed their bundlers, including President Biden and Harris during the 2020 election cycle.

“It would be a shame to see this good-government guardrail fall by the wayside during this momentous election in which so many voters are concerned about democracy and democratic norms,” said Michael Beckel, research director at Issue One.

While presidential campaign donations are capped at $3,300 per race, bundlers mobilize their networks to collect hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars for campaigns.

Bundlers who hit certain fundraising tiers unlock perks such as invitations to events with candidates and have been known to receive coveted appointments. President Obama, for example, named 31 bundlers as ambassadors during his second term, according to a 2017 investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

“Elite fundraisers get access to politicians that ordinary voters can only dream of. By raising significant sums of money, they are gaining the ear of someone who is trying to become the most powerful person in the world,” Beckel said.

Issue One spearheaded several letters signed by good governance groups this election cycle pressing presidential candidates to disclose their top fundraisers.

The Hill has asked the Trump and Harris campaigns repeatedly if and when they plan to disclose their bundlers.

Neither campaign has responded to requests for comment for this story and others.

The Trump campaign, which did not disclose its bundlers in 2016 or 2020, has at least seven bundling tiers this cycle ranging from the $15,000 “Trump Force” to the million-dollar “Ultra MAGA,” according to reporting by Puck News in January.

Back when Biden was running for reelection, the Biden-Harris campaign had at least four tiers of bundlers who could qualify for “sweeteners” such as invitations to events with the president and vice president, NBC News reported last September.

Neither Biden nor Harris have released details on their top fundraisers this election cycle. But during the 2020 election, Biden released the names of more than 800 individuals and couples who had raised at least $100,000 for his campaign days before the election, and he had disclosed in December 2019 more than 230 people who had raised at least $25,000.

While the campaigns’ failure to disclose bundlers this cycle is “unfortunate,” it is “far less important” than it was when Bush first disclosed his bundlers in 2000, said Michael Malbin, a professor emeritus at the University at Albany who co-founded the Campaign Finance Institute.

Back then, bundling was “the main way wealthy donors could use contributions to earn candiates' gratitude,” according to Malbin.

“This changed radically after Citizens United,” Malbin said, referring to the controversial 2010 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for political committees to raise and spend unlimited sums of money, so long as they didn’t coordinate with campaigns. 

Whereas before, candidates could only get support from their committees or parties, they “could now benefit from contributions to SuperPACs that operated as all-but-arms of the candidate,” Malbin added.

Billionaire Elon Musk has wielded his fortune to curry favor with Trump this election, pouring $118.6 million into his America PAC. The super PAC has spent $84.2 million boosting Trump and $56.8 million attacking Harris, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics and signed onto the Issue One letters.

Trump has outsourced a large portion of his ground game to America PAC, and Musk has joined the president on the campaign trail, pushing hard in Pennsylvania in particular.

Harris has also been buoyed by $515.7 million in outside spending by Future Forward USA, a hybrid PAC that only partially discloses its donors, according to OpenSecrets.

Taylor Giorno previously worked for OpenSecrets.