A hotel magnate and aerospace executive’s $20.05 million gift to a pro-Ron DeSantis group was the single largest political donation reported so far this year, joining five other entrepreneurs who poured at least $5 million into GOP groups—but this year’s top donor has soured on the ailing DeSantis campaign and could shift to former President Donald Trump.
Robert Bigelow made the largest single contribution from an individual, rather than a political organization or company, when he gave just over $20 million in March to Never Back Down, the super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to Federal Election Commission records of contributions from Jan. 1 through Dec. 19.
Bigelow has disavowed DeSantis since his initial cash infusion, citing his support for a six-week abortion ban in Florida, and told the Financial Times in November he was considering throwing his support behind Trump instead.
The second-largest individual contribution came from billionaire Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass, who gave $10 million in June to a super PAC affiliated with Club for Growth, the influential conservative political organization that has feuded with Trump and formed an effort to stop him from winning the nomination; Yass also gave the group $5 million in February and $1 million in October.
Timothy Mellon, the Mellon family banking heir and former donor to Trump’s 2020 campaign, gave $5 million in June to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which backs Republican congressional candidates, and another $5 million in April to America Values 2024, the super PAC supporting independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Mellon called “the one candidate who can unite the country” in a statement from American Values in July.
Billionaire Walmart heirs Rob Walton and Jim C. Walton each gave $5 million in April to Americans for Prosperity Action Inc., a super PAC largely funded by the billionaire Koch brothers that has endorsed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for president.
Sherman Financial Group founder and CEO Benjamin Navarro donated $5 million in June to Trust in the Mission PAC, which was supporting Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) now-defunct presidential campaign.
The GOP megadonor class is searching for an alternative to Trump, but has struggled to coalesce around a candidate, as the former president has increased his polling lead to more than 50 points over DeSantis and Haley. The recent polling rise of Haley, who now trails DeSantis by just one point, has prompted some other monied anti-Trump megadonors, both Republican and Democrats, to put throw their support behind her in a last-ditch effort to thwart Trump’s path to the nomination. LinkedIn co-founder and longtime Democratic donor Reid Hoffman recently donated $250,000 to the pro-Haley super PAC Stand For America Fund Inc., Hoffman’s political advisor Dmitri Melhorn told Forbes. New Hampshire billionaire Frank Laukien and Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone have endorsed her, and Citadel hedge fund founder Ken Griffin, who previously said he planned to support DeSantis, has also said he is considering backing Haley.
We estimate Yass’ net worth at $28.9 billion, and Rob Walton and his family at $65.1 billion, as of Dec. 26. Rob’s younger brother Jim Walton is worth $65.8 billion.
$82.5 million. That’s the largest political donation recorded by the FEC so far this year—a transfer from DeSantis’ former state political action committee to Never Back Down.
In the latest sign of the fragile state of DeSantis’ campaign, Never Back Down CEO Jeff Roe resigned on Dec. 16, the third CEO to step down in a matter of weeks amid a feud with his campaign about how to revive his struggling candidacy. DeSantis’ allies started another super PAC, Fight Right, last month to fill the gaps his confidants believe have been left by Never Back Down.
