Reid Hoffman gives millions to Dems as Epstein fight reaches election

Billionaire venture capitalist Reid Hoffman has put $8 million into the Democratic Party of Wisconsin over the past five weeks to help the party’s gubernatorial nominee David Crowley in his race against Republican Tom Tiffany.

The LinkedIn co-founder gave $2 million on Sept. 24, $1 million on Oct. 2 and another $5 million in two installments on Oct. 5 and Oct. 20, according to Wisconsin campaign finance records. The rapid-fire checks are part of a last-minute spending spree by some of America’s richest donors before Election Day.

In just the past week and a half, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave Democratic Texas gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa $750,000, while Y Combinator co-founder Jessica Livingston chipped in another $150,000, state records show.

Bloomberg had already committed roughly $80 million to help Democrats this fall, much of it aimed at winning control of the House.

Meanwhile, PayPal co-founder Luke Nosek gave $500,000 on Tuesday to Judicial Fairness PAC, which supports conservative judicial candidates in Texas, according to Texas campaign finance records. The group had already received $2 million from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, according to state records. Musk’s roughly $475 million in disclosed political giving through late October makes him the cycle’s biggest known individual donor.

The checks are landing in the middle of a final-week ad frenzy, with more than $1 billion now booked to air before Election Day, according to AdImpact. The 2026 cycle has already broken the record for political ad spending, with more than $11.2 billion spent or reserved, according to AdImpact. That’s more than any previous presidential election cycle as well.

Hoffman has framed his own spending as a reluctant necessity.

“We should get money out of politics,” Hoffman wrote Friday on X. “And while others spend outrageous amounts to keep authoritarian clowns in power, those of us who believe in the ideals of America cannot yield.”

The House Majority PAC, the main super PAC working to elect House Democrats, has received $8.5 million from Hoffman this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. 

In the past two weeks, the group has rolled out 13 ads related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They total about $8.4 million in spending and nearly 719.4 million impressions, according to AdImpact. Until this month, it had not run a single Epstein-focused ad.

The spots have pushed Epstein into at least six battleground House races, accusing Republicans of helping block the release of government records related to Epstein or highlighting their ties to people in his orbit.

In Arizona’s Second District, an ad called “Justice” attacked Republican Rep. Eli Crane over votes related to releasing the Epstein files and contributions from alleged Epstein associates. In Pennsylvania’s Eighth District, ads called “Predators” and “Teacher” targeted Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan. And this week, an ad called “Exposed” went…