In all, 57 million-dollar donors together were responsible for $119 million donated to GOP and Democratic super PACs by June 30 – more than 40 percent of the total amount raised by those groups.
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Unlike campaigns, these outside groups aren’t limited in how much money they can accept from individual donors. Bernie Sanders has openly said, “I would not have a brilliant PAC”. The groups are run by longtime advisers and former aides to the White House hopefuls, who have edged closer to their aligned super PACs than previous candidates dared.
Here is a guide to what’s already known about the presidential super PACs, based on information provided by the groups and their official filings with the Federal Election Commission.
But now, that group – which has indicated it would focus more on grass-roots engagement – seems to be faltering, having only raised $250,000 in the first half of 2015. NextEra contributed more than $1 million this year. Neugebauer is an energy investor in Texas and the son of GOP Rep. Randy Neugebauer. But he also built that support on a wider base: His top 24 donors only accounted for about a quarter of all the money raised. Another: Laura Perlmutter, who gave $2 million to a super PAC supporting Sen.
One check, from one donor, topped those results. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had a $16 million haul.
There are also a number of donors who are not people-something that could not have happened before the super-PAC era, or at least not on the same scale.
For Florida developer Al Hoffman, financial support of the state’s former governor, Jeb Bush, is personal. Now that he is officially a candidate, he has left Right to Rise in the hands of his trusted strategist and friend, Mike Murphy.
Another highlight of the Right to Rise donor list is corporate money. A super PAC supporting Jeb Bush has pulled in a whopping $103 million already this year. The company owns Florida Power and Light, the largest electric company in the state, where Bush was governor. The US Sugar Corporation Charitable Trust donated $505,000-possibly a first for charities, which are generally excluded from involving themselves in politics. Lindsey Graham.
Super PACs have no contribution limits, a result of the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are too new to the presidential contest, announcing only weeks ago, to have filed any reports about their campaigns’ finances. At this point in 2011, only one of the 12 Republican contenders had a super-PAC.
Additionally, Texas Rangers owner Ray Davis donated $100,000. RealClearPolitics’ average gives him just 5.2 percent of the vote, lagging behind fellow conservative firebrands Rand Paul and Ben Carson.
Other big donors to Paul’s super PACs are Paypal board member Scott Banister ($1.25 million) and George Macricostas ($1.1 million.). A California family trust also gave another $1 million. Hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, for instance, was among the top three donors to super PACs backing both Jindal and Cruz, though he gave far more to the pro-Cruz effort.
Candidates who aren’t running for president are getting similar boosts; Pat Toomey, a vulnerable Republican senator in Pennsylvania, is benefitting from a $1.5 million TV, direct mail, and digital video ad campaign from Concerned Veterans for America. “Some of these candidates will go much deeper into the primaries than they otherwise could, thanks only to this kind of money”.
Warren, who became a billionaire through piping, is one of two Dallas men bankrolling the majority of Rick Perry’s super PAC.
He has been referred to in the past by Cruz as a “key moneyman in the super PAC’s”.
He’s not alone in the use of super PACs to fuel a presidential run.
Priorities USA, the main super PAC backing Hillary Clinton, raised $15.7 million in the first half of 2015, but only because of a surge of big checks in the month of June.
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Bush’s nine-figure haul comes from only 6,312 contributions, as mentioned by FEC filings, with an average of $17,000 per donation.
