Mavs’ Miriam Adelson Leads All Sports Owners in Midterms Spending

This is part of a Front Office Sports series about sports spending in the 2026 midterm elections.

The Dallas Mavericks haven’t won an NBA title since 2011. But Mavs owner Miriam Adelson is dominating the league in a different arena: federal election campaign contributions.

The well-known conservative donor and supporter of President Donald Trump spent at least $67.6 million this past cycle, according to Federal Election Committee filings for the 2025-26 election cycle reviewed by Front Office Sports. She spent even more in 2024, when she put about $100 million behind Donald Trump’s campaign to retake the White House.

Adelson, a Nevada physician who immigrated to the U.S. from Israel, has a net worth of around $50 billion thanks to the casino business owned by her late husband Sheldon Adelson. She has solidified herself as a major figure in Republican politics.

During the midterm cycle, she gave almost exclusively to PACs, as well as a six-figure check for the Republican National Committee. She donated $25 million to MAGA Inc, the super PAC supporting Donald Trump, as well as $30 million to Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), and $10 million to another right-leaning super PAC called the Conservative Leadership Fund (CLF), FEC filings show. Through PACs including the NRSC Victory Fund, her donations ended up in the hands of campaigns including those for Sen. Pete Ricketts (R., Neb.) and Tim Scott (R., S.C.).

Though no one in the NBA came close to Adelson’s eight-figure contributions, Dick and Dan DeVos, brothers and co-owners of the Orlando Magic, donated the second-most of any NBA owners, according to FEC records. They spent more than $4 million combined, largely to Republicans. (Both contributed to Dan Goldman in the Democratic House primary race he lost to New York comptroller Brad Lander.) The DeVos family, which made its fortune with the multi-level marketing company Amway, has long played a major role on the right. Dick’s wife Betsy, was Trump’s first Secretary of Education.

Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler contributed about $2.7 million. He donated about $2 million to the Koch family’s AFP Action PAC, but also offered $250,000 to Grow the Majority and $100,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). He spent on several Republican campaigns, including $17,000 to Team Jordan (supporting Republican Rep. Jim Jordan), $3,500 to Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, and $7,000 to the re-election campaign for Rep. David Valadao (R., Cal.).

Rounding out the top five: Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who bought 25% of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023 and will do a five-year rotation as governors starting in 2028. Combined, the pair spent about $2 million during this campaign cycle, spreading donations across more than a dozen Republican super PACs and candidates in the House and Senate.

Representatives for the Haslams, DeVoses, Adelson, and Ressler did not respond to a request for comment.

Other NBA owners donated to PACs and campaigns during this cycle, though none of them spent more than $1 million.

Donors to largely Republican candidates and PACs include (rounded to the nearest thousand):

• Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris ($255,000)
• Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé ($252,000)
• Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta ($200,000)
• New Orleans Pelicans owner Gayle Benson ($58,000)
• Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clayton Bennett ($15,500)
• Milwaukee Bucks owner Jamie Dinan ($7,000)
• Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens ($5,000)

Fertitta is currently working in the Trump administration as the ambassador to Italy and is set to move the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun to Houston beginning next season.

Meanwhile, Democrat-leaning donors included:

• 76ers co-owner David Blitzer ($141,000)
• Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis ($122,000)
• Minnesota Timberwolves owner Marc Stad ($14,000)

Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon, who has historically backed Democrats, gave $130,000 on both sides of the aisle; for example, he gave $10,000 to the Indiana Republican State Committee, but also to the Committee to Elect Dan Koh. Miami Heat owner Micky Arison donated to Democrats nationwide and Republicans, many of whom were in Florida. Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf gave $63,500 to several Democrats, but also Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts from Nebraska. (Ricketts’s family owns the Cubs.)

The political leanings of both outgoing and incoming Lakers owners were a subject of major interest earlier this year, as outgoing owner Mark Walter is under federal investigation and new owner Josh Kushner is the brother of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. But neither Walter nor incoming owners Bob Iger and Kushner participated significantly in this election cycle.

Walter is facing several probes into his life insurance companies, and has sold or looked to sell chunks of his sports empire that includes the Dodgers, PWHL, and an F1 team; he previously owned a major stake in Chelsea and is looking to sell the Sparks. He only contributed to the MLB PAC ($10,000).

Iger, the former president of Disney, contributed almost solely to the Disney PAC, which supports candidates on both sides of the aisle on behalf of Disney.

Josh Kushner, who bought the Lakers from Walter alongside Iger, spent no money this election cycle, according to FEC records. He’s historically backed Democrats despite his family ties to Trump.

Commissioner Adam Silver also contributed at least about $40,000, almost exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Silver, who grew up in the New York City suburbs and recently sold a Manhattan apartment, backed candidates in two New York House primaries: Goldman, who lost to Lander, and Micah Lasher, a state assemblyman who is almost certainly headed to Congress after winning his primary in June. Silver also donated to Washington senator Maria Cantwell and North Carolina senate nominee Roy Cooper.

This series was reported and produced by Amanda Christovich, Margaret Fleming, Eli Kronenberg, Katie Krzaczek, and Dennis Young.

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