Billionaires Answer Call to Donate to Republican Super PACs for 2014 Homestretch
WASHINGTON — Billionaires are rushing to the aid of Republicans in the homestretch of the 2014 elections with a massive super PAC infusion after a plea from big money mastermind Karl Rove.
On Sept. 17, Rove, the co-founder of the super PAC and dark money duo American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, took to the Wall Street Journal editorial page to send out his billionaire bat-signal.
If the rich want to ensure Republican control of the Senate, “reducing the Democratic cash advantage will tip the needle in the GOP’s direction,” Rove wrote. “That will only happen if Republicans open their wallets to candidates whom they may have never met.”
Since Rove’s plea, 21 billionaires and their family members have poured $19.9 million into super PACs backing Republican Party candidates, fueling an October outside spending surge. Only $5.1 million was given to the Republican super PACs in the first half of September, before Rove’s request.
The billionaire cash infusion came from what has become the core of the party’s disclosed donors ever since the 2013 deaths of Houston-based homebuilder Bob Perry and the Dallas investor Harold Simmons. This central network includes hedge fund billionaires Paul Singer, Ken Griffin, Julian Robertson, Daniel Loeb and Seth Klarman, coal mining executive Joe Craft, World Wrestling Entertainment co-owner Linda McMahon, TD Ameritrade founder and Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts, investors Robert Rowling and B. Wayne Hughes, and Houston Texans owner Robert McNair.
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