Michael Bloomberg spends $80 million on Democrats as Trump transfers $400 million to Republican candidates | 2026 US midterm elections

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg will spend $80 million to help Democratic candidates in the midterm elections, US media reported Tuesday, a significant cash injection for a party that has recently struggled to raise money as it seeks to take control of Congress.

The reported donations come as Donald Trump announced Tuesday plans to spend a total of $400 million to help Republican candidates, with $300 million already disbursed.

The New York Times reports that Bloomberg made his contributions in September and October, and is particularly focused on Democrats running to overturn the U.S. House of Representatives, which Republicans currently control by a historically small margin. The goal, Bloomberg political adviser Howard Wolfson told the Times, is to ensure that a Democratic majority is larger than the 218 seats needed to take control of the chamber.

“The difference between 221 and 230, in terms of House majority, really matters,” Wolfson said.

One of the world’s richest men, Bloomberg, 84, served three terms as mayor of New York, from 2002 to 2013. He was an independent then, but then registered as a Democrat, spending $80 million to help the party in the 2018 midterms, during Trump’s first term, then made a well-funded but unsuccessful bid for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020.

Among his donations this year are $24 million to Everytown for Gun Safety, a group he co-founded that spends on Democratic candidates for the lower house, and $16 million to the House Majority Pac, which is linked to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Democrats believe they are favored to take back the House this year, even though they acknowledge they are lagging Republicans in fundraising. In addition to Trump’s money, Republicans are getting help from the president’s ally Elon Musk, who has so far spent $366 million on conservative groups and campaigns.

Democrats also believe they have a chance of securing the four seats needed to regain control of the Senate, although analysts say it could go either way.

Control of either chamber would allow Democrats to block Trump’s legislative agenda and more effectively investigate his administration. If they win a majority in the Senate, the party’s lawmakers could also reject its nominees for the Supreme Court and other federal judicial posts.

Bloomberg donated $2.5 million to a Super Pac supporting James Talarico, the Democratic candidate in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, as well as a Super Pac supporting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s re-election campaign and the campaigns of several Democratic gubernatorial candidates, the Times reported.

When asked how effective Bloomberg thought the money would be, Wolfson replied: “He believes resources are important in campaigns. » He added that the billionaire is “expecting a result”.