Mellon Leads 2020 GOP Donors, Defends Use of Racial Stereotypes
The scion of the Gilded Age family, who has given $30 million to support Republican candidates, described food stamps and Obamacare as “Slavery Redux.”
Timothy Mellon’s donations this election cycle include $10 million to America First Action, the group backing President Donald Trump’s reelection.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/Getty Images
The top Republican donor in the 2020 election is the reclusive heir to one of the great fortunes of the Gilded Age, who over the course of a long career has flown commercial jets for Pan American Airlines, battled with unions, and sued over money he gave to search for Amelia Earhart’s lost plane. This election cycle, he’s given millions to support GOP candidates who, he hopes, will dismantle social welfare programs he calls “Slavery Redux”—but once championed.
Timothy Mellon, the great grandson of Mellon Bank founder Thomas Mellon and grandson of Andrew Mellon, the U.S. Treasury secretary during the initial years of the Great Depression, has given $30 million in this cycle to super PACs backing Republican candidates. That includes $10 million—one of the year’s single biggest donations—to America First Action, the group backing President Donald Trump’s reelection.