Elizabeth Simons has given $354,000 to the DCCC while also backing Mamdani and other left-wing causes, sharpening Democratic tensions.
Billionaire heiress Elizabeth Simons is backing the House Democratic effort to win back control of Congress, even as she continues to finance the progressive causes and candidates unsettling the party’s establishment. The Elizabeth Simons donations include $354,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s main House campaign arm, along with additional money to individual House candidates this election cycle.
Simons also gave $250,000 to a super PAC supporting Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a move that made her one of the biggest backers of his campaign against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She has also supported other left-leaning efforts, including education initiatives that critics describe as “woke math,” and has poured money into causes tied to anti-incarceration prosecutors and opponents of cash bail. A longtime Democratic fundraiser said they could understand why parts of the “very woke left” were lining up with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, arguing that the shared goal is winning the House.
The money matters because the Democratic Party’s internal split is no longer just about ideology. It is also about who gets to define the party if Democrats regain power. Republicans currently hold the House by a narrow 218-212 margin, and the DCCC is led by Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who is aligned with the party’s New Democrat Coalition. Jeffries, the top House Democrat, would be in position to take power if Democrats flip the chamber. That makes donors like Simons an important force in both the general election fight and the broader contest for the party’s future.
Simons is not a conventional establishment donor. She chairs the board of the Heising-Simons Foundation, which she co-founded with her husband, Mark Heising. Her father, James Simons, founded Renaissance Technologies and was estimated to be worth $31.4 billion when he died in 2024. The family’s wealth has long given her the ability to steer major sums toward political and social causes, and her recent giving shows she is using that influence across more than one wing of the Democratic coalition.
“Elizabeth Simons has given $354,000 to the DCCC while also backing Mamdani and other left-wing causes, sharpening Democratic tensions.”
Last August, Simons wrote the $250,000 check to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, the largest contribution to the group backing Mamdani’s campaign. The foundation also gave $1.7 million to the Racial Justice in Early Mathematics Project at Chicago’s Erikson Institute. Separately, Simons and three other California donors — Patty Quillin, Quinn Delaney and Kaitlyn Krieger — were said to have put $22 million into ballot measures and candidates during the 2022 election cycle, according to Politico.
Those same California megadonors have continued to shape the party’s direction this cycle. According to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data, Simons and the three others have contributed nearly $4 million to House Democrats and Democratic committees. Quillin, who is married to Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings, gave more than $300,000 to the DCCC while also sending $650,000 to the Working Families Party, a group openly committed to challenging the Democratic establishment.
The Working Families Party said last week that it had added Michigan House primary winner Will Lawrence and U.S. Senate primary winner Abul El-Sayed to its list of backed candidates. For Democrats, that is the larger problem Simons personifies: one donor class is trying to help the party win the House, while another is pushing it further left at the same time. The fight over those competing visions will shape how Democrats campaign this fall and what kind of party they become if they take power back.
For American voters, the Elizabeth Simons donations story shows how much money and ideology will continue to influence the battle for Congress, and the next House majority could decide both policy and the direction of the Democratic Party itself.
Frequently asked questions
How much has Elizabeth Simons given to House Democrats?
She has donated $354,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and additional sums to individual House candidates this election cycle.
Why is her giving drawing attention inside the Democratic Party?
Simons is financing the party’s House effort while also supporting progressive causes and candidates that worry establishment Democrats.
What other major political contribution is linked to Simons?
She previously gave $250,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, the super PAC backing Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
What is the broader stakes for Democrats?
If Democrats win back the House, the fight over the party’s direction will continue alongside the battle for control of Congress.
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