Exclusive:Brian Cox and Shirley Manson among stateside Scots backing Democrats in US mid-term elections

Leading names in entertainment, including the actor, Brian Cox, and musician, Shirley Manson, are among those to have made donations in the run up to voters going to the polls on 3 November.

The outcome of the election will decide which political party - Donald Trump's Republicans or the Democrats - controls the US Congress, which will in turn determine how easy it is for the US president to carry out his plans for the rest of his time in office.

With the stakes high, donors have pumped in billions of dollars to date in the election fight, with the majority going towards the Republicans.

Now, an analysis by Scotland on Sunday of individual US political contributions can reveal that Scots who are living stateside are among those to have put their hands in their pocket.

While US election finance law prohibits foreign nationals living in the country from making political donations, all the Scots in question are able to contribute thanks to the fact they either hold US citizenship, dual nationality or possess Green Cards.

Read more: How the biggest vanity project in American history reveals Donald Trump's inner vandal

The latter status confers permanent US residency rights, and allows individuals to make political donations, despite the fact they cannot cast a vote.

According to filings with the US Federal Election Commission, which documents the sums given by individual donors, Cox has made hundreds of donations to Democratic causes since the start of the year, worth thousands of dollars.

In all, the Succession actor has made at least 209 individual donations totalling more than $2,100 (£1,880) according to the FEC donor database. The vast majority of the donations made by the Dundee-born star went to ActBlue, an online fundraising facility that allows donors to direct their money to various Democratic causes.

But the 80 year-old stage and screen veteran, who has a home in New York, has also given multiple donations to the campaign of Raphael Warnock, a Democratic senator standing for reelection in Georgia.

Read more: Prospect of election defeat forces Donald Trump to show his horrifying true intentions – Henry McLeish

Mr Cox, a longstanding donor for Democratic causes, has been a prominent critic of US president Donald Trump. Earlier this year, he told The Scotsman that the 80-year-old, currently serving his second term in the White House, “can’t think further than his own stupidity.”

He hit out: “The man is an incredible deadbeat, a deadbeat on human society. He’s a f****** nuisance, and he’s ignorant, he’s so f****** ignorant about what’s going on in the world.”

Another actor, Glasgow-born Michelle Gomez, has donated at least $550 (£490) to Democratic causes over the past 10 months. The 59-year-old, who became a naturalised US citizen in 2023 alongside her husband and fellow actor, Jack Davenport, shot to fame for her roles in television series such as The Book Group, Green Wing, and Bad Education. She went on to appear as Missy in the hit BBC science fiction series Doctor Who.

She made multiple donations to Act Blue as well as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to electing a majority in the US Senate.

Elsewhere, the acclaimed musician, David Byrne, has made donations worth nearly $2,00 (£1,790) over the course of 2026 to date. The Dumbarton-born star, who shot to fame as the frontman of Talking Heads, has made at least 63 donations, according to the FEC filings.

Like Mr Cox, the 74 year-old, who lives in New York, made the majority of his donations to ActBlue, but he has also contributed to the campaign fund for the leading Democratic figure, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The records show he also made several donations to Fair Fight Action, a Georgia-based non-profit that fights for free and fair elections.

Mr Byrne’s fellow musician, Shirley Manson, has made three donations to Democratic causes totalling $300 (£268), with the majority going towards the committee to elect Justin Pearson, a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives who has been a prominent environmental activist.

Subscribe today to the Scotsman’s daily newsletter

The Edinburgh-born singer, who made her name as the frontwoman of Garbage, has lived in the US for decades, and is based in California. She too has previously hit out at Mr Trump.

Other prominent Scots based in the US have donated even more, including one of the most powerful figures on Wall Street.

The FEC records show that Dame Jane Fraser, the chair and chief executive of the banking giant, CitiGroup, has made nearly two dozen donations over the course of 2026, totalling more than $23,000 (£20,594).

They include several thousand dollars towards the campaign for Bill Hagerty, the Republican senator who is seeking re-election in Tennessee.

However, Dame Jane, originally from St Andrews, has also given four figure sums to the campaigns for Democratic candidates such as Mark Warner and Dan Goldman, who are running in New York.

The sums contributed by the Scots pale in comparison to the total amount that has been poured into the election race in the US.

According to the Washington Post, the 50 biggest donors have cumulatively contributed more than $2.3 billion (£2.05bn), with Elon Musk responsible for a sizable minority of that total.

The controversial CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who previously led the Trump administration’s efforts to restructure the US federal government, has given around $369m (£330m), with the majority going towards efforts to ensure the Republicans retain control of the Congress.

Another one of the world’s richest men, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, is reported to have donated around $80m (£71m) to help Democratic candidates as the party seeks to tip the balance of power.