Who is Jeff Yass, the TikTok billionaire pumping millions into the Texas voucher fight?

Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania billionaire who’s become a major player in Texas politics, has donated over $209 million in the last decade to federal and state candidates and groups to promote school choice. He’s given $6.25 million to Gov. Greg Abbott ahead of the March 5 primary to help Abbott try to unseat Republicans who blocked his voucher-like plan in the Texas House. Many of the same incumbents are under attack by two PACs Yass supports. He’s donated $4 million since last fall to one PAC affiliated with the American Federation for Children, and $15 million since 2021 to another called the School Freedom Fund, linked to the anti-tax group Club for Growth. Nationally, Yass has given $46 million in the 2024 elections — more than anyone else so far, according to campaign watchdog Open Secrets.

Who is Jeff Yass? The cofounder of Susquehanna International Group in suburban Philadelphia, one of Wall Street’s biggest trading firms, grew up in Queens, N.Y. A paper he wrote for a course at SUNY Binghamton, “An Econometric Analysis of Horse Racing,” was published in a gambling magazine. He used the insights to collect huge jackpots at the track after a stint playing poker professionally. He became a billionaire thanks to an early investment in ByteDance, the Chinese company behind the video-sharing app TikTok. Why focus on school choice? Yass has said little to explain why so much of his political largesse centers on school choice. In rare public comments, he’s bashed public school teachers as overpaid and accused their unions, a core Democratic constituency, of stymying education reforms in order to protect jobs. In his home state of Pennsylvania, Yass has put $62 million into a group he co-founded called Students First PAC, which backs candidates in both parties that seek alternatives to public schools. Among his beneficiaries is state Sen. Anthony Williams, a Democrat who promoted tax credits for company donations to private and charter schools — a provision used extensively by Yass’ trading firm.