List of largest democratic individual political donors over 2015-2025

1. How the “largest donor” question is being measured — and its limits

OpenSecrets explicitly counts itemized contributions recorded with the FEC and includes spouses and dependent children in donor totals, and it warns that some categories of outside spending—especially 501(c) groups—are not required to disclose donors, meaning totals understate the true universe of influence ^{[1] [3]}. Analysts and watchdogs therefore treat OpenSecrets’ ranking as authoritative for disclosed, traceable individual donations but note that “dark money” vehicles, transfers between committees, and self‑funding (or donor networks that pool funds) can hide or distort who is effectively the largest backer ^{[3] [2]}.

2. Who shows up consistently at the top of Democratic donor lists in public filings

OpenSecrets’ donor dashboards and the Democratic Party contributors page aggregate cycle‑level giving and are the primary public sources for names and dollar totals across 2015–2025; they provide cycle and multi‑cycle tallies that identify recurring megadonors to Democratic candidates and liberal outside groups ^{[1] [2]}. Investigative and advocacy reporting cites individual tech founders and finance titans as among the largest disclosed Democratic givers—Dustin Moskovitz is singled out by Brennan Center analysis as the largest individual donor to pro‑Harris super PACs (reported at roughly $38 million to pro‑Harris groups in that analysis), and OpenSecrets’ donor lists capture other high‑profile Democratic contributors ^{[5] [1]}.

3. Notable names flagged by reporting and watchdogs (and their political leanings)

Media and nonprofit analyses that intersect with OpenSecrets’ data point to a mix of familiar names: high‑net‑worth tech philanthropists and finance industry figures appear repeatedly in Democratic giving tallies, while other megadonors (Ken Griffin, Paul Singer, Timothy Mellon, Elon Musk, Miriam Adelson) are identified primarily with large Republican or conservative gifts in recent cycles—illustrating partisan asymmetries among the very richest donors ^{[5] [4]}. Reporting also highlights intermediaries and nonprofits—such as Future Forward USA Action and non‑disclosing NGOs—that can amplify or obscure the influence of a smaller number of individuals; for example, Bill Gates was reported as a major funder behind Future Forward’s transfers to pro‑Harris efforts in the 2024 cycle ^[5].

4. What the money bought and the broader pattern through 2015–2025

The bulk of the largest disclosed donations went to super PACs, outside spending groups, and party committees rather than solely to candidates’ authorized committees—an increasingly common route for megadonors in presidential and competitive congressional cycles ^{[3] [2]}. Analysts at the Brennan Center and philanthropy outlets note that individual gifts in the tens of millions have a disproportionate effect on outside spending in modern presidential contests, with Democratic‑leaning megadonors sometimes coordinating through donor networks or funding nonprofits that subsequently support party‑aligned super PACs ^{[5] [6]}.

5. Bottom line and where to get the canonical ranked list

For a definitive, ranked list of the largest individual Democratic donors over 2015–2025, the OpenSecrets “Biggest Donors” and party contributor pages remain the canonical public datasets—those pages aggregate FEC and IRS disclosures and are updated to reflect filings through February 6, 2025 ^{[1] [2]}. Any use of those rankings must be accompanied by the caveat that undisclosed contributions and nonprofit transfers mean public records capture a substantial but incomplete portrait of elite political giving ^{[3] [4]}.