Bezos Leaves Few Money In Politics Clues

According to Center for Responsive Politics data, Bezos and his wife Mackenzie have given just $162,000 altogether to federal political candidates or committees since 1998 (only a small portion of which went to federal candidates). Donations to the Amazon.com corporate PAC account for $130,000 of that total. The only cash to any federal candidates that Bezos and his wife have given to in the last six years were $4,800 donations (the maximum) to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in 2009. Since 1998, the couple has given $28,000 to Democratic candidates and $4,000 to Republican candidates. The top recipient of cash from Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos was Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) but she hasn't received a contribution from either since 2006. Historically, Bezos and his wife have been more active in state-level politics. The couple gave $2.5 million to support a referendum legalizing gay marriage in Washington state. Bezos also gave $25,000 to former fellow dot-com executive Meg Whitman, a Republican, who ran for governor of California.

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