Billionaire venture capitalist Reid Hoffman ( Reid Hoffman ) has invested 8 million dollars in the Wisconsin Democratic Party over the past five weeks to support the party's gubernatorial candidate, David Crowley ( David Crowley ), in his race against Republican Tom Tiffany ( Tom Tiffany ).
According to the campaign finance records of Wisconsin, this co-founder with the username LinkedIn donated $2 million on September 24, $1 million on October 2, and an additional $5 million in two installments on October 5 and October 20. These quickly credited checks were part of the final-minute increases in donations from some of the wealthiest donors in the United States before the election day.
In just the past week and a half, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ( Michael Bloomberg ) donated $750,000 to Gina Hinojosa ( Gina Hinojosa ), the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, while Jessica Livingston ( Jessica Livingston ), co-founder of Y Combinator , added another $150,000, according to state records.
Bloomberg has previously pledged to invest approximately $80 million this fall to support the Democratic Party, with most of that funding aimed at helping the Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, PayPal co-founder Luke Nooseck ( Luke Nosek ) donated $500,000 on Tuesday to a Judicial Fairness PAC organization that supports conservative judicial candidates in Texas, according to Texas campaign finance records. The organization has previously received $2 million from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ( Elon Musk ), as shown in state records. As of the end of October, Musk had disclosed political donations totaling about $475 million, making him the individual with the largest known donations in this cycle.
These checks appeared at the center of the advertising battle in the last week. AdImpact stated that the amount of advertisements reserved for placement before the election date has exceeded $1 billion. The political advertising expenditure for this cycle in 2026 has set a record, with over $11.2 billion already spent or reserved, AdImpact indicated. This figure also surpasses that of any previous presidential election cycle.
Hoffman described his expenses as an unwilling but necessary measure.
"We should drive money out of politics," Hoffman wrote on X on Friday. "But when others spend exorbitant amounts to maintain the rule of authoritarian clowns, we who believe in American ideals cannot back down."
According to records from the Federal Election Commission, the main super political action committee House Majority PAC that played a key role in helping the Democratic Party win seats in the House of Representatives has received a donation of $8.5 million from Hoffman in this electoral cycle.
In the past two weeks, the organization has launched 13 advertisements related to the notorious financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ( Jeffrey Epstein ). It is said that these advertisements cost a total of approximately 8.4 million US dollars and were viewed nearly 719.4 million times. Until this month, the organization had not placed any advertisements featuring Epstein.
These advertisements have brought the Epstein affair into at least six closely contested House of Representatives races, accusing Republicans of helping to prevent the release of government documents related to Epstein, or highlighting their connections with people within Epstein's circle.
In Arizona's Second Congressional District, an advertisement titled “Justice” attacked Republican Representative Eli Kline ( Eli Crane ), accusing him of his actions regarding the public disclosure of votes related to Epstein's documents and donations from individuals allegedly associated with Epstein. In Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District, advertisements named “Predators” and “Teacher” targeted Republican Representative Rob Brensnahan ( Rob Bresnahan ). This week, an advertisement titled “Exposed” attacked Republican Representative Mike Turner ( Mike Turner ) in Ohio's Tenth Congressional District, accusing him of accepting donations from Epstein's close associates and having a poor record on matters related to the public disclosure of documents. These three electoral campaigns are closely contested and may determine control of the House of Representatives in the next Congress.
Since super political action committees pool donations, it is impossible to trace which specific ad Hoffman's funds were used for. However, this onslaught clearly presents a complex issue for the Democratic Party: Hoffman continued to maintain connections with Epstein after the financier pleaded guilty to sexual offenses involving minors in 2008.
Hoffman admitted to visiting Epstein's private island and meeting with him after his conviction. He stated that this relationship stemmed from fundraising for the MIT Media Lab ( MIT Media Lab ) and repeatedly expressed regret for continuing to meet with Epstein.
"My last contact with Epstein was in 2015," Hoffman told Axios in 2019. "Nevertheless, whenever I agreed to participate in any fundraising event with Epstein present, I helped to repair his reputation and thus continued the injustice. For this, I deeply regret it."
There are currently no accusations that Hoffman was involved in Epstein's sexual transaction crimes, but Republicans still make a big deal out of it. This week, the Republican National Committee accused Democrats of being hypocritical for accepting funds from Hoffman while using Epstein to attack Republican candidates.
Natalie Baldassare, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee ( Natalie Baldassarre ), said to Fox News earlier this week: "As long as it is beneficial to their own campaigns, the Democrats have no objection to money intervening in politics."
This attack has also followed Hoffman's funds into Wisconsin. In a new 15-second advertisement, Tiffany's campaign team edited together clips of Crowley saying “Epstein” and “billionaires”, followed by a voiceover stating that they are “funding David Crowley’s campaign”.
