Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, JIM WATSON/Getty Images
Think America’s richest people all backed a fellow billionaire in the 2020 election? Think again.
This is the first installment of a four-part series exploring the money billionaires poured into the 2020 election.
A little more than a year ago Bernie Sanders called out Joe Biden during a Democratic debate in Los Angeles. Biden, he told the audience, had gotten checks from more than 40 billionaire donors. In the leadup to Election Day, as Democrats of all classes coalesced around Biden, that figure more than quintupled.
Biden’s campaign ended up receiving money from 230 billionaires or spouses of billionaires, according to a review of records filed with the Federal Election Commission. Far more billionaires supported the current president than his predecessor. Among Biden’s backers: household names like Steven Spielberg, Tyler Perry and Ralph Lauren, as well as Democratic stalwarts like Haim Saban,