Sports team owners poured more than $100 million into the 2026 midterm elections. More than half of it came from one person.
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According to a Front Office Sports analysis of Federal Election Commission filings, Dallas Mavericks majority owner Miriam Adelson spent at least $67.63 million during the 2025–26 election cycle, almost all of it backing Republicans as the party fought to keep control of the House and Senate.
No other sports owner came close. Denver Broncos owner Rob Walton was second at $11.11 million, about one-sixth of Adelson’s total. Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler ranked third and second among NBA owners individually, with $2.71 million, most of it to Republican causes, including about $2 million to Americans for Prosperity Action.
According to FEC Filings reviewed by FOS, Adelson donated $25 million to MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting Donald Trump, as well as $30 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund.
She also wrote a six-figure check to the Republican National Committee. Her $30 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, made in the first quarter of 2026, was her largest single gift to that group, according to Bloomberg.
The donations have reportedly also reached the campaigns of Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
The total of $67.63 million is still below Adelson’s past spending. She and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, reportedly spent about $113 million supporting Republicans in the 2018 midterms.
In 2020, the Adelsons were Trump’s biggest donors, putting $75 million into the pro-Trump super PAC Preserve America, and their giving to Republican candidates and committees that cycle reached about $176 million by mid-October, according to Politico.
Miriam Adelson was a major supporter of Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign and contributed about $100 million. She also spoke passionately at a campaign event.
“President Trump deserves the full support of the entire Jewish people,” Adelson said to the media in 2024, endorsing Trump. “And anyone who cares about Israel’s security and prosperity, this must be our pledge to him – this must be our promise to him – that the White House will be his again come January.”
Miriam jokingly promised to contribute $250 million if Trump tried for a third term as President of the United States of America. However, the Constitution limits presidents to two terms.
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. In June, Israel Hayom, the Israeli newspaper Adelson owns, ran a column accusing Trump of betraying Israel with his deal to end the war with Iran. Her midterm spending, though, shows she’s still firmly backing his party.
In November 2018, Trump awarded Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to medical research and philanthropy. However, there were doubts over whether she and her husband’s contributions to Trump’s Presidential campaign played any part in it.
The midterms took place on Tuesday, with control of both the House and Senate up for grabs. Among sports owners, no one spent more to influence the result than Adelson.