BLUEPRINT
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has privately donated close to $50 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign through a nonprofit organisation, reported TOI citing New York Times.
Gates made the contribution to Future Forward USA Action, the nonprofit arm of the main outside fundraising group backing Harris’s campaign.
The organisation operates as a 501(c)(4) “dark money” group, which means the donation will not appear in public filings, according to sources.
Gates had expressed concerns about the implications of Trump being the president again in private conversations throughout the year. Gates does not share a personal relationship with Harris but has publicly celebrated the Biden-Harris administration’s climate change policies. Sources close to his foundation indicate serious concerns about the future of family planning and global health programs under a potential second Trump term.
“I support candidates who demonstrate a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change in the U.S. and around the world,” Gates told the Times.
He, however, did not admit to the donation. “This election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world.”
The contribution is a U-turn from 2019, when he explicitly stated, “I choose not to participate in large political donations.”
Gates has an estimated net worth of $162 billion and has historically maintained a bipartisan approach to advance his global philanthropic work.
Sources indicate that Gates’s children, Rory and Phoebe Gates, played a role in encouraging their father’s political engagement. Both in their early to mid-20s, the siblings have emerged as Democratic donors themselves and have contributed millions largely derived from their parents’ wealth.
