June 3, 2015

These 8 Republican Sugar Daddies Are Already Placing Their Bets on 2016

It’s not just the Koch brothers.

    — By the MoJo News Team


The 2016 election is more than a year and a half away, but conservative megadonors are already picking their favorite candidates:

Megadonor 2016 pick Meeting of the minds
Norman Braman
Billionaire car dealer and former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles

Marco Rubio

 Rubio is “the candidate of today and tomorrow,” Braman tells Mother Jones. “Read his book and you’ll see.”
Robert Mercer
Hedge Fund magnate and the owner of a $2 million model train set

Ted Cruz

 Mercer’s firm has been accused of dodging $6 billion in taxes; Cruz has mused about abolishing the IRS.
Foster Friess
Crocodile hunting mutual fund financier

Rick Santorum

 Friess, who joked about aspirin’s contraceptive powers while backing Santorum in 2012, told the Washington Post, “I am clearly in the Santorum camp.”
Larry Ellison
Founder of Oracle and owner of a private Hawaiian island

Rubio

 Ellison is holding a big-ticket fundraiser for the candidate at his $200 million Japanese-style Silicon Valley estate.*
Ken Langone
Home Depot cofounder who once said, “I’m nuts, I’m rich, and boy, do I love a fight!”

Chris Christie

 Langone, who initially supported Christie in 2012, has offered to build a bridge between his donor network and the New Jersey governor.
Sheldon Adelson
Casino tycoon who dropped more than $93 million to defeat Obama in 2012

Rubio…maybe

 Adelson has received visits from Rubio, but is staying coy. His spokesman told Politico, “He’s going to keep his powder dry until he needs to weigh in.”
Charles and David Koch Billionaire bros who have vowed to spend $900 million in 2016

Scott Walker…maybe

 David Koch reportedly likes Walker’s chances, but the brothers plan to hold “auditions” for GOP candidates this summer.

Correction: This story originally reported that Ellison had held a fundraiser for Rand Paul and may back him. Politico reports that Paul only attended the event and Ellison has committed to Rubio.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate