His four affiliated super PACS reported on Friday fundraising totals of just under $38 million on Friday.
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The fortunes of groups linked to top-tier Republican candidates like Walker and Rubio were similarly attached to the pockets of their financiers: Half of Walker’s $20 million haul came from two people.
A group backing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie raised $11 million, while two supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker brought in $26 million.
WASHINGTON (AP) It took Ted Cruz three months to raise $10 million for his campaign for president, a springtime sprint of $1,000-per-plate dinners, hundreds of handshakes and a stream of emails asking supporters to chip in a few bucks. “How will candidates convince voters they aren’t beholden to $10 million donors?”
Bolstered by a $500,000 check from New Albany billionaire Leslie H. Wexner, Ohioans have contributed more than $870,000 to the presidential effort of Jeb Bush, newly filed campaign statements show. They can openly support candidates but may not directly coordinate their actions with their campaigns.
Fewer than 400 families are responsible for nearly half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign, a concentration of political donors that is unprecedented in the modern era.
“It’s Cruz’s own super PAC hedging against him before the first debate”, said the Republican insider.
But Clinton’s super PAC, Priorities USA, brought in $15 million, most of it from nine donors.
Campaign finance watchdogs complain that super PACs undermine the spending limits that have guided elections and allow big donors to influence elections in a way that the law was supposed to prevent.
“When Bush gets $100 million plus, and when Hillary gets $50 million plus, every one of those people that put up money will control Bush,”
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Super PACs, which operate outside candidates’ formal campaigns, have raised more than $250 million for 17 presidential contenders in the first six months of this year, according to fundraising reports filed with federal regulators.
The vast majority of the $388 million backing presidential candidates this year is being channeled to groups that can accept unlimited contributions in support of candidates from nearly any source. A super PAC supporting Jeb Bush has pulled in a whopping $103 million already this year.
Media mogul Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl, donated $2 million to the super PAC. Jeff Yass, the managing director of the trading firm Susquehanna worldwide Group; George Macricostas, the head of the data center company RagingWire; and Silicon Valley angel investor Scott Bannister each gave more than $1 million, account for 74 percent of Paul’s super PAC haul.
The evaluation emphasizes tactical difficulties not challenged by past presidential promotions – specifically how to invest all the money effectively and also officially, provided specifications designed to wall off applicants and also their activities from big cash organizations. Ravel says the key concern right here is that the these mega rich donors are shopping for outsize affect – and meaning much less energy for the typical voter. Hedge fund billionaire George Soros, one of the biggest Democratic donors in earlier elections, gave $1 million.
Together, Braman, Ellison and Perlmutter gave $11 million of the $16 million raised by the group.
The creation of Stand for Principle, a super PAC dedicated to electing Ted Cruz, right after Election Day was read as the clearest signal yet that Cruz allies were gearing up for a presidential run.
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Information for this article was contributed by Tim Higgins, Gregory Giroux and Zachary Mider of Bloomberg News; by Nicholas Confessore, Sarah Cohen, Karen Yourish, Steve Eder, Kitty Bennett, Jeremy Bowers and Chase Davis of The New York Times; by Julie Bykowicz, Jack Gillum, Nicholas Riccardi, Thomas Beaumont and Ronnie Greene of The Associated Press; and by Matea Gold, Anu Narayanswamy and Jose A. DelReal of The Washington Post.
