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“I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning?.?.?.?myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry.”
— Top Republican donor Thomas Peterffy told the Financial Times that he is halting plans to help finance the presidential bid of Gov. Ron DeSantis due to his extreme positions on social issues.
$500,000
The rally in Washington’s Ellipse that preceded the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was arranged and funded by a small group including a top Trump campaign fundraiser and donor facilitated by far-right show host Alex Jones,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Mr. Jones personally pledged more than $50,000 in seed money … [and] also helped arrange for Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a prominent donor to the Trump campaign and heiress to the Publix Super Markets Inc. chain, to commit about $300,000 … Her money paid for the lion’s share of the roughly $500,000 rally at the Ellipse where Mr. Trump spoke.”
$19,000
Fresno Bee: “Rep. Devin Nunes’ big role in the unfolding drama between Justice Department and the Trump administration has drawn national headlines — and allowed him to collect big money from D.C. area donors. But the California Republican is also being dogged by accusations he’s no longer focused on his constituents. … Of the more than $1 million Nunes raised from individual donors, roughly $19,000, or 2 percent, came from people in his district, which includes chunks of Fresno and Tulare Counties. That’s the smallest percentage of any the eight California Republicans in Congress who Democrats are targeting for defeat this fall.”
First, small donors appear to be more polarized than the CEOs and the top .01 percent. All those donors are relatively polarized, with donors clustered around the party medians, but the wealthier folks are somewhat less so. Second, the 30 wealthiest donors in the country are actually pretty moderate, at least judging from this measure. Apart from some extremists like George Soros and the Koch brothers, most exist between the party medians. … This presents an interesting conundrum. We know Congress has grown more polarized over the past three decades. And we know that the very wealthy are donating more and more each year. But the very wealthy aren’t necessarily that polarized. If they were buying the government they wanted, they’d be getting a more moderate one than we currently have.
I go out of my way to avoid meeting candidates and politicians. All too often, these people are so disappointing that it’s depressing. Most of these people you meet, they’re unemployable…. It’s just easier not to know.
— GOP super donor John Jordan, quoted by National Journal.
