Post Context

The numbers line up with a Washington Post analysis of Federal Election Commission data covering donations reported through July 20, 2026. The Post put the 50 largest individual donors at just over $1.6 billion for the cycle, with George Soros's giving (through Geosor and the Fund for Policy Reform) at $102 million and Elon Musk at $90.6 million — matching what's listed in the post.

Worth adding context Sanders leaves out: the money isn't evenly split by party. The Post found Republican-leaning donors accounted for roughly $1.05 billion of the total, versus about $360-410 million from Democratic-leaning donors and $230 million from bipartisan or special-interest givers. So while Soros tops the individual list, the aggregate skews heavily Republican — a point that gets lost when the post frames this as bipartisan corruption in equal measure.

Almost all of this money flows to super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions from individuals but can't coordinate directly with candidates — the legal mechanism Sanders is pointing to when he calls for ending Citizens United. That 2010 Supreme Court ruling is indeed what opened the door to unlimited independent expenditures by outside groups.

• Meet the megadonors pouring more than $1.6 billion into the 2026 elections — Washington Post