Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy
Reuters
With the midterms over a year away, wealthy donors have already started giving massive checks to committees tied to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, according to new records.
Second-quarter Federal Election Commission records of fundraising operations linked to Pelosi, McCarthy and House leadership paint a picture of party officials and big-money donors recognizing the need to heavily fund these campaign committees, with the House chamber being up for grabs in 2022. The Democrats, who hold the majority, lost seats during the 2020 election, and Republicans are looking to capitalize.
The Associated Press reported that the campaign arm for House Republicans, the National Republican Congressional Committee [NRCC], outraised its rival for House Democrats, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [DCCC], in the second quarter.
Campaign representatives for McCarthy and Pelosi did not respond to requests for comment.
Take Back the House 2022, a joint fundraising committee for the NRCC, McCarthy and other House Republicans, saw a windfall of over $8 million from April through June. That was due to contributions from influential donors, including those on Wall Street, such as Nelson Peltz, the CEO of investment firm Trian Partners, who gave $50,000 to the committee in June.
Ken Griffin, the CEO of Citadel, gave over $500,000 to the committee that same month. Steven Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty and an ally of former President Donald Trump, gave $250,000 in May. Robert Day, the CEO of investment real estate firm Oakmont Corp., gave $100,000 to the group that same month. Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, gave over $700,000 to the committee in June, records show.
McCarthy’s leadership PAC, which also raises money for the NRCC and Take Back the House, also saw major contributions from big-money donors this past quarter as the GOP looks to recapture the majority. The committee, the McCarthy Victory Fund, raised just over $2.3 million over the past three months.
Peter Thiel, an investor billionaire who has had previous alliances with Trump and has lately ramped up contributions to GOP candidates, gave just over $47,000 to the McCarthy Victory Fund in April. Doug Leone, an executive at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, gave $125,000 in May to the committee. Leone renounced his support for Trump after the deadly Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill. David Urban, a longtime Trump confidant who now is an executive at China-based technology company ByteDance, gave $5,000 to the committee in June.
Pelosi also saw a wave of big money come into her joint fundraising account. The Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund, which raises money for the DCCC, brought in over $4 million in the second quarter.
Legendary film producer Steven Spielberg gave $150,000 to the fundraising committee in April. Fellow movie executive Jeffrey Katzenberg gave $100,000 that same month. Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, gave over $44,000 to the committee in June. Real estate titan George Marcus contributed over $260,000 that same month.
