Tim Scott receives major boost in White House bid from these seven billionaires
Gabe Kaminsky
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Super PACs supporting Sen. Tim Scott‘s (R-SC) 2024 White House bid hauled in large donations recently from a cohort of influential business leaders, records reveal.
The pro-Scott committees Opportunity Matters Fund Action and Trust In The Mission, which can accept unlimited sums of cash though they cannot coordinate directly with the South Carolina Republican’s campaign, disclosed Monday that they received $6.1 million combined from seven billionaires between March and June.
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The donations underscore how Wall Street is trying to evaluate which Republican hopeful could garner enough support to take on President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election. A New York Times/Siena College GOP primary survey released Monday found former President Donald Trump with 54% support, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) with 17%, ex-Vice President Mike Pence, Scott, and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley at 3%, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 2%.
“Tim Scott is the one candidate in this race that has shown movement and momentum,” Nathan Brand, the communications director for Scott’s presidential campaign, told the Washington Examiner. “His consistently conservative record, positive message, and ability to connect with voters everywhere is why Tim Scott is resonating. This is why he’s the candidate that Democrats fear the most.”
Opportunity Matters Fund Action notably pocketed $80,000 from Nelson Peltz, an investor who is the non-executive chairman of the Wendy’s Company, $600,000 from business magnate Jeffrey Yass, and $150,000 from former hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, according to campaign finance disclosures. Absent from the latest contributors list was billionaire and former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who poured over $35 million between 2020 and 2022 into another Scott-affiliated PAC.
Peltz in 2020 hosted a fundraising dinner to support Trump’s presidential bid, though he later soured on the former commander in chief after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The 81-year-old Trian Fund Management founder was cited in a late July Financial Times story as “rethinking” his prior support for DeSantis, whom Peltz said was “too severe” on his anti-abortion policies. The governor signed a bill into law in Florida in April that banned abortions following six weeks of pregnancy.
Yass, who co-founded the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna International Group and is estimated by Forbes to be worth $28.9 billion, has taken other steps in the past to support efforts in the GOP to fight a Trump nomination. He gave $15 million combined in February and June to Club for Growth Action, which is opposing the former president, according to campaign finance disclosures.
As for Druckenmiller, he is also co-hosting a ritzy fundraiser on Aug. 9 in the Hamptons to support Scott, according to an invitation. Druckenmiller, who between 1988 and 2000 was a managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he managed investments directly for George Soros as chief officer, is being joined at the Hamptons event by ex-Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN), who is said to be worth $2.5 billion.
Haslam contributed $300,000 in June to Trust in the Mission PAC, disclosures show. The PAC also received $25,000 each from the married billionaire couple Jimmy Haslam and Dee Haslam, who own the Cleveland Browns in the NFL.
Meanwhile, Trust in the Mission raked in $5 million in June from South Carolina businessman Ben Navarro, the founder of Sherman Financial Group, the owner of Credit One Bank, according to disclosures. Navarro made headlines in 2021 upon gifting $1.25 million to the College of Charleston.
While Trump has so far dominated his GOP challengers in polls, Scott could see an opening to gain traction, given the DeSantis campaign’s recent pitfalls related to overspending, low fundraising, and letting go dozens of staffers. The pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down reported $97 million in cash-on-hand on Monday, and it plans to raise another $100 million by March 2024.
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Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Monday that it’s clear “voters from all backgrounds are clearly standing with” the former president.
“The fact is that President Trump will be the nominee and will beat Crooked Joe Biden because he’s the only person who can supercharge the economy, secure our border, safeguard communities, and put an end to unnecessary wars,” Cheung said. “Americans want to return to a prosperous nation, and there’s only one person who can do that — President Trump.”