NFL Owners Have Put More Than $20 Million Into the Midterms, Nearly All of It Backing Republicans

As voters head to the polls for Tuesday's midterm elections, NFL owners have already made their picks with their checkbooks.

Team owners have spent more than $20 million on candidates and political committees during the 2026 cycle, and nearly all of it has gone to Republicans, according to a Front Office Sports review of Federal Election Commission records. FOS first put the total above $18 million when the report ran Oct. 28, then raised it after correcting its figure for Broncos owner Rob Walton on Nov. 2. Undrafted checked the largest individual contributions against FEC records; figures we could not find in those records are attributed to Front Office Sports below.

Walton leads the way

No owner comes close to Walton, the Walmart heir who co-owns the Denver Broncos. FOS reports he has spent more than $11 million backing Republican candidates and committees this cycle, roughly half of the league-wide total.

The biggest piece went to Americans for Prosperity Action. FEC records show Walton gave the group $2 million in July 2025 and another $5 million in April 2026. He also gave $2 million to SLF PAC in April, $500,000 to Texans for a Conservative Majority, $250,000 across two contributions to Emmer Majority Builders and $200,000 to Conservatives for America PAC, according to the filings.

Greg Penner, the Broncos' CEO and Walton's son-in-law, has given $349,000, most of it to Great Opportunity PAC, per FOS. FEC records show a $250,000 contribution from Penner to that committee in August 2025. A spokesperson for Walton did not respond to FOS' request for comment.

The Joneses and Texas

In Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave $1 million to MAGA Inc., the super PAC aligned with President Donald Trump, in January 2025, according to FEC records. In June 2026 he gave $250,000 to Paxton Victory, a committee supporting Ken Paxton's Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico, and about $219,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the filings show.

Jerry Jones Jr., the team's chief brand officer, gave $50,000 to a fund backing Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the Texas Republican primary to Paxton, and $100,000 to Truth and Courage PAC, which FOS identifies as Sen. Ted Cruz's political action committee. FOS puts Jones Jr.'s total at more than $300,000 to Republicans.

Senate races draw the rest

Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who own the Cleveland Browns, have combined to spend more than $1 million, according to FOS. FEC records show Jimmy Haslam giving to the Republican National Committee, the NRSC and the National Republican Congressional Committee, along with committees supporting Ohio Sen. Jon Husted and Cornyn. FOS reports he also gave smaller amounts to Republican Senate candidates including Dan Sullivan, Susan Collins and Mike Rogers.

FOS reports that Patriots owner Robert Kraft gave $100,000 in September to the Great Lakes Conservatives Fund, a super PAC backing Rogers in Michigan's Senate race. That contribution did not yet appear in the FEC records Undrafted reviewed. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross made two $100,000 donations to PACs supporting Republican Senate candidates in South Carolina and Florida, per FOS. FEC records show one of them, to Security Is Strength PAC in December 2025.

The exceptions

The largest Democratic donor among owners is Vinod Khosla, the venture capitalist whose family bought the Seattle Seahawks in a sale NFL owners approved in August. FEC records show $2 million from Khosla to Senate Majority PAC, the main super PAC backing Senate Democrats, in two $1 million contributions in July 2025 and March 2026, plus $50,000 to House Majority PAC. FOS notes Khosla also gave $5,000 in June to the reelection campaign of Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican. Khosla's spokesperson did not respond to FOS.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank gave $300,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in November 2025, according to FEC records. FOS adds that Blank gave $3,500 to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and $3,500 to former NFL kicker Jay Feely, a Republican running for a House seat in Arizona. A Blank spokesperson confirmed the donations to FOS and declined further comment.

Kraft and Ross each backed a Democrat as well. Kraft gave $27,000 to the Torres Victory Fund, which supports Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, in December 2025, FEC records show. Ross gave $10,500 to a PAC tied to Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, according to FOS.

The league's own PAC

The NFL's political action committee works differently. Owners of more than half the league's teams contributed to the Gridiron PAC this cycle, and it has spent more than $700,000 supporting candidates and groups from both parties, FOS reports. Commissioner Roger Goodell gave $7,000 to Feely's campaign. In the 2024 cycle, 58% of federal contributions from the NFL's PAC and league employees went to Democrats, the fourth straight cycle the league favored Democrats, according to an OpenSecrets analysis reported by the Deseret News.

Owners' personal giving has leaned the other way for several cycles. NFL owners gave about $28 million in the 2024 election, roughly $23 million of it to Republicans, USA TODAY reported at the time.

What's next

Polls close Tuesday night, but the money trail isn't finished. Committees file post-election reports with the FEC in December, which will show any late contributions from owners that were not yet public before Election Day.

Sources: Federal Election Commission records, Front Office Sports, USA TODAY, the Deseret News and OpenSecrets. More NFL coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab), licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).