Citadel’s CEO Ken Griffin becomes GOP $100 million midterm megadonor

Citadel’s billionaire CEO, Ken Griffin, is one of Wall Street’s biggest political donors in the 2022 midterms, giving more than $100 million toward state and federal candidates across the country since April 2021, campaign finance records show.

The $50 million Griffin has donated to Republicans running in federal races alone make him the party’s single biggest individual donor from the finance industry and the third-biggest political donor to federal candidates in this election cycle, according to data tracked by campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.

Only Soros Fund Management founder George Soros and shipping magnate Richard Uihlein have given more to candidates running for the U.S. House or Senate. Soros has donated over $128 million to Democrats while Uihlein has given $53 million to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.

Griffin, however, has spent another $50 million during this election cycle — which runs from Jan. 1, 2021 through the end of this year — on the failed Illinois gubernatorial campaign of Aurora, Ill., Mayor Richard Irvin, who lost in the Republican primary, according to state campaign finance records.

Citadel announced plans this summer to move its headquarters from Chicago to Miami, as the Windy City struggles to stop a rise in crime. Griffin has previously said part of his feud with Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker is over the Democratic leader’s record on crime. Griffin said at a DealBook conference last year that when he brought up the crime issue to Pritzker, “he took the moment to call me a liar.”

Zia Ahmed, a spokesman for Griffin, told CNBC in a statement that the Citadel CEO is aiming to “broaden the tent of the Republican Party.”

“Ken wants to elevate talented candidates and broaden the tent of the Republican Party to make it more representative of our country,” Ahmed said. “He supports leaders who will focus on education, job creation, public safety and a strong national defense so that every individual has access to the American dream.”

Democratic political operatives have taken aim at Griffin, especially as he’s tried to make an impact on elections.

The Democratic Governors Association, an outside group that backs Democrats, organized opposition research on Griffin as he was deciding who to support in the Illinois Republican primary for governor. The research, which was reviewed by CNBC, is titled “Ken Griffin Has Been Playing Kingmaker In IL Politics With No Consequences.” It’s a compilation of public documents and reporting that included a focus on Griffin’s divorces. Pritzker, who has an estimated net worth of $3.6 billion, donated $24 million to the group as Griffin moved to back Irvin, according to records filed to the IRS.

In a statement to CNBC, the Democratic governors’ group compared Griffin’s contributions to those of Charles Koch and his brother, the late David Koch. They said that Griffin deserves scrutiny due to him becoming…