From Miami New Times:
The TikTok billionaire bankrolling Byron Donalds
Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images; Miami New Times illustration
As Congressman Byron Donalds declines to debate his Republican rivals in Florida’s governor’s race, new campaign finance records show the biggest financial force behind his candidacy isn’t a Florida political powerhouse or a longtime Tallahassee insider.
It’s Jeff Yass, the Pennsylvania billionaire investor whose fortune is tied in part to ByteDance, the Chinese technology company that owns TikTok.
Records filed by Friends of Byron Donalds PAC show Yass has contributed a staggering $7.5 million to the committee backing Donalds’ gubernatorial bid, making him the single largest donor supporting the Naples congressman’s campaign, which has amassed over $81 million in total, including more than $71 million in PAC funding. The contribution dwarfs those of nearly every other donor and places Yass at the center of one of the most well-funded campaigns in Florida political history.
Yass, co-founder of the trading firm Susquehanna International Group, is one of the most influential Republican donors in America. He has spent tens of millions of dollars backing conservative candidates and causes across the country, including $16 million toward President Donald Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc. in the first half of 2025 (as Trump postponed a legally mandated TikTok ban), and is a major supporter of the anti-tax group Club for Growth.
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