Philanthropist Bunny Mellon, who refashioned the White House Rose Garden for John F. Kennedy, used to say that when it comes to design, “nothing should be noticed.” Her stepson, Timothy, could have claimed this as his motto for much of his life — until recently when he became the 2024 election’s most-talked-about and consequential megadonor.
After storming onto the big-money political scene in 2020 when he poured over $70 million into Republican causes, Mellon, 81, now holds the distinction of being the largest single donor to PACs backing not one but two presidential candidates: Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Mellon stands apart in a donor world full of big spenders with explicit agendas. Democrats paint him as a puppet master behind Kennedy, propping up his campaign as a spoiler to aid Trump. But his yearslong connections to the Kennedy family, eclectic interests outside politics and atypical ways of giving his money suggest he is not that simple to pin down.