2016 Presidential Contenders, Ranked By Richness

Ever look up at the TV screen in the gym, see a bunch of suits on cable news, and think, “The next leader of the free world will be one of these fine folks,” and feel a swell of pride, or perhaps nausea? Based on the results of the next election, our fearless leader may be male or female; a Republican or a Democrat; Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish; of European, Asian, African, and/or Latin American descent; old(ish) or young(ish). The one thing we know for sure? The next inhabitant of the Oval Office will be rich.

This knowledge was underlined today by the news that multimillionaire and former governor Jeb Bush released hundreds of pages of financial documents. Having combed through them, Politico drily reports on what it calls the candidate’s “wealth to riches story.”

notable in Bush’s returns is his level of charitable giving, which significantly ramped up as his wealth increased and as he moved closer to his presidential bid.

He reported giving just $16,000 to charity in 2008, and tax records show he gave less than 2 percent of his income to charity during his first seven years out of office (by comparison, President Barack Obama’s most recent return showed his donations amounting to almost 15 percent of his income).

By 2012, that annual amount had climbed to $104,169. And in 2014 alone, Bush gave $308,000 to charity, his campaign said.

The upward trend in his income has also been stark.

In 2007, his first year out of office, Bush reported an adjusted gross income of $2.24 million.

By 2010, that had jumped to $3.16 million. It nearly doubled the following year, to $6.2 million, though the country was then still caught in the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

His income dipped a bit in 2012 to $5.9 million, his returns show, before continuing to climb in 2013 to $7.27 million.

His effective tax rates during those years bounced around between 34 percent and 40 percent, the returns show.

That’s pretty catty for Politico. Perhaps they’re Christie fans over there.

Anyway, though Jeb has done quite well for himself working for Lehman (RIP), Barclay’s, and so on, his assets still don’t make him the richest aspirant, or even the richest Republican. Not when he has to share a stage with former CEO Carly Fiorina ($59 million) and professional buffoon Donald Trump (four billion, although who knows, and it will be lower soon if other companies and magnates keep cutting ties with him).

Here, then, are your candidates sorted in order of how much money they have, with a few extra data points stuck in there for perspective. An asterisk denotes that the individual is reported to be considering entering the race but has not officially done so as of this writing.

Median American Net Worth — $56,000

18) Bernie Sanders (D) — $330,000

17) Marco Rubio (R) — $444,000 and a luxury speedboat

16) Joe Biden* (D) — $600,000

Median Congressperson Net Worth — $843,507

15) Rand Paul (R) — $1,300,000

14) Lindsey Graham (R) — $1,500,000

13) Scott Walker (R) — $2,000,000

12) John Kasich* (R) — $2,500,000

Median Senator Net Worth — $2,800,000

11) Ted Cruz (R) — $3,000,000

11) Bobby Jindal (R) — $3,000,000

11) Rick Perry (R) — $3,000,000

10) Chris Christie (R) — $4,000,000

9) Rick Santorum (R) — $5,000,000

8) Jim Webb* (D) — $6,000,000

7) Mike Huckabee (R) — $7,000,000

6) Ben Carson (R) — $10,000,000

5) Hilary Clinton (D) — $15,300,000

4) Jeb Bush (R) — $22,000,000

3) Lincoln Chafee (D) — $43,000,000

2) Carly Fiorina (R) — $80,000,000 (though some sources differ)

1) Donald Trump (R) — $4,000,000,000

Worth Of Congress As A Whole — $4,300,000,000

Unranked: Martin O’Malley (D) — no data

Some of this I found surprising! Ben Carson is worth 2.5 Chris Christies. Chafee is worth like 40 Pauls. Cruz = Jindal = Perry. Trump is almost as rich as all those millionaires in the House and the Senate put together. Guess it goes to show that the superrich can often hide in plain sight, blending in among the regular rich like leopards into the savannah.

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