President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at the Liberty Ball, part of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, in January. Federal records show Trump’s inauguration committee received a record $239 million in donations, including more than $5 million from Illinois companies and residents.
AP
More than $5 million of the record-setting $239 million donated to fund President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s inauguration celebration came from Illinoisans and Illinois-based companies, a Daily Herald analysis of federal records shows.
Donors using Chicago-area addresses included Chicago Cubs co-owner and former Republican National Committee finance chair Todd Ricketts of Wilmette; former Illinois Republican National Committee representative Richard W. Porter of Northfield; and Lake Forest resident Laura Seidensticker, according to a report filed April 20 with the Federal Election Commission.
Additionally, Huizenga Capital Management chair Heidi Huizenga used the company’s Oak Brook address for her donation despite living in Florida.
Then-President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with Todd Ricketts at Trump’s National Golf Club Bedminster in 2016. Ricketts donated $500,000 to Trump’s latest inauguration fund, records show.
AP
Chicago-area companies that contributed to the Jan. 20 inauguration included Lake County’s Abbott Laboratories, McDonald’s Corp. of Chicago and Motorola Solutions, also of Chicago.
Reports are mandatory
Committees that oversee presidential inaugural ceremonies and related activities are required to provide information about the people or companies behind donations of $200 or more. Committees don’t have to report how they spent the money.
Reports are due 90 days after an inauguration ceremony. They can be viewed online at fec.gov.
The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee reported netting — after about $6 million in refunds — more than $239 million between Nov. 15 and April 20. That sum was nearly four times what President Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration Committee 2021 received for an event that was scaled down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also was more than double the nearly $107 million Trump’s 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee collected for his first inauguration in 2017. That had been the fundraising record.
Illinois donors
The cash from people who listed Illinois addresses and companies headquartered in Illinois represents about 2% of the total the inaugural committee received.
Contributions from individuals included $500,000 from Ricketts, whom Trump had nominated to be deputy commerce secretary at the start of his first term but who withdrew from consideration; $250,000 from Huizenga, whose late husband, Peter, co-founded Waste Management; $50,000 from Seidensticker, the chief technology officer of Franklin Park-based Vital Proteins; and $50,000 from Porter, whose confrontation with then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida during last summer’s Republican National Convention went viral.
Former Illinois Republican national committeeman Richard W. Porter of Northfield and former presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway at an inauguration ball in January. Porter was among the Illinois residents who donated to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, records show.
Courtesy of Richard Porter
Porter made his donation in December and attended the inauguration festivities — including an indoor parade at the Capitol One Arena and a black-tie ball later that night, both of which Trump attended — the following month.
“The inauguration was a historic event,” said Porter, who was a special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and attended his inauguration in 1989 as well as Trump’s first inauguration. “The president’s political resurrection is unprecedented in American history. It was meaningful to be part of the celebration.”
Another Illinois contributor was investment banker Greg Swenson, who has homes in Chicago and London and is the chair of Republicans Overseas UK. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, each gave $50,000.
Vincent A. Kolber, founder of the RESIDCO transportation firm, gave $50,000 using the company’s Chicago address.
Donations from Illinois corporations included $1 million from McDonald’s; $1 million from United; $500,000 from Abbott; $250,000 from Motorola; and $50,000 from Schaumburg’s CEC Educational Services, a company that owns for-profit universities and in 2020 changed its name to Perdoceo Education Corp.
Representatives for those companies didn’t respond to interview requests.
Two Chicago-based national trade groups, the American Hospital Association and the National Association of Realtors, each gave $50,000. Representatives couldn’t be reached for comment.
Of the Illinois companies and groups that contributed to Trump’s inauguration, only Abbott and United also supported Biden’s inauguration in 2021, records show.
Some consumers may be surprised by the companies that contributed to the inauguration fund, said Melissa Mouritsen, a political science professor at the College of DuPage.
“People probably assume that right/conservative leaners will donate and they think they know who they are,” Mouritsen said in an email. “I think there will be more surprise when they see, for instance, United donated to both Biden and Trump as the cost of doing business.”
Who gave the most?
Overall, more than 130 donors contributed at least $1 million for this year’s celebration, records show. The most generous donor was the Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride meat company, which gave $5 million.
Longtime Republican megadonor, philanthropist and former Chicagoan Kenneth C. Griffin, who now lives in Florida, gave $1 million.
Amazon, the Anheuser-Busch Companies, AT&T, Delta Air Lines, Google, Target and Uber were among the corporations based outside Illinois that gave $1 million each.
Some contributors have secured roles within the Trump administration.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon gave $1 million less than a month after she was nominated for that post. Likewise, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave $250,000 about six weeks after his nomination was announced. Pennsylvania entrepreneur Jared Isaacman donated $2 million in November and was nominated by Trump to be the next NASA administrator about a week later.
These donations troubled Mouritsen. Big donors have been rewarded with government jobs before, but the “direct and obvious lines” and the number being rewarded with Trump administration jobs are eye-opening, she said.
“It’s the extent of the donations, and the direct and obvious lines that can be drawn, and then the numbers of people being rewarded,” she said.
Attempts to reach a White House spokesperson were unsuccessful.
These Illinois corporations and groups helped fund President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Abbott Laboratories: $500,000
American Hospital Association: $50,000
CEC Educational Services: $50,000
HaystackID Holdings: $25,000
McDonald’s Corp.: $1 million
Motorola Solutions: $250,000
National Association of Realtors: $50,000
Rock Island Aviation: $103,306
United Airlines: $1 million
Source: fec.gov
Clockwise from upper left: Abbott Laboratories, Motorola Solutions, McDonald’s Corp. and United Airlines are among the Illinois corporations that contributed to a fund for President Donald Trump’s second inauguration this past January.
AP
