JD Vance’s Biggest Billionaire Donors

Forbes

The richest donors to his 2022 Senate bid included stalwart Republican megadonors and Silicon Valley billionaires. Some have yet to put their weight behind the Republican ticket.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/leokamin/2024/07/19/here-are-jd-vances-biggest-billionaire-donors/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, here are J.D. Vance's Biggest Billionaire Donors.

00:06Donald Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has always had a dual appeal.

00:12He comes from the Rust Belt, the impoverished southwest corner of Ohio he details in Hillbilly

00:17Elegy.

00:18But he has excelled in the centers of America's elite, at Yale Law School and the VC firms

00:22of Silicon Valley.

00:25He drew on that appeal as a Senate candidate in 2022.

00:28He brought in donations from staples of the Republican donor base, including Elizabeth

00:32Ulein and Kelly Loeffler.

00:34But he also pulled in large sums from tech billionaires like Roku's Anthony Wood and

00:38Oculus' Palmer Luckey.

00:41His partner at the top of the Republican ticket doesn't need much help fundraising.

00:45Trump is pulling ahead in the money race and recently received one of the largest one-time

00:48donations in American history.

00:50But he still won't turn down extra cash.

00:53And some of the biggest billionaire backers of Vance's 2022 Senate run have not yet given

00:58to Trump.

01:00One of those backers is hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who met with Trump recently but

01:04apparently told the former president he preferred a different VP candidate.

01:08Luckily not all these billionaires feel the same.

01:11Real estate developer Richard Kurtz told Forbes that Vance was a quote, perfect pick and said

01:16he recommended him to Trump earlier this year.

01:19The potential Veep himself might also take some credit for bringing the world's richest

01:23man fully into the magafold.

01:25In the wake of Vance's announcement, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk

01:29was committing $45 million a month to a pro-Trump PAC.

01:34Musk recently posted on X, in all caps, TRUMP Vance.

01:38He added, quote, resounds with victory.

01:42Here are a few of J.D. Vance's biggest billionaire backers.

01:46At number one is Peter Thiel, whose net worth is $7.9 billion and who has given $15 million

01:52to Vance Groups.

01:54Vance once described a talk Thiel gave as, quote, the most significant moment of my time

01:58at Yale Law School.

02:00He said it helped him realize that he was overly obsessed with obtaining professional

02:04credentials, even though it was Thiel himself, a PayPal co-founder and early investor in

02:09Facebook, who helped provide Vance with one of the first of many impressive resume lines.

02:14Soon after law school, Vance took a job as a principal at Mithral Capital, a VC firm

02:19Thiel co-founded.

02:21He didn't stay long, but the pair's bond clearly endured.

02:24Thiel dished out more than $15 million to support Vance in 2022.

02:29Thiel, a once self-professed libertarian who has published lengthy treatises on political

02:34theory, he backed Trump in 2016, but recently told The Atlantic that he regretted it and

02:39would be staying out of politics in 2024.

02:42That could change with his former employee now on the ticket.

02:47At number two is Elizabeth Ulein, who is worth $6.6 billion and who has given $250,000

02:53to Vance Groups.

02:55The co-founder of the Wisconsin-based Ulein Industrial Supplies Empire, Elizabeth Ulein

02:59is among the most consistent Republican donors.

03:03She's given more than $1 million in each of the last five election cycles, so it's no

03:07surprise that Vance wasn't the only Senate candidate she got behind in 2022, when she

03:11also poured over $3 million into Ron Johnson's Wisconsin campaign.

03:16The Ulein fortune will continue to flow toward Vance in 2024.

03:20She gave $5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC in May.

03:25At number three is Richard Kurtz, who's worth $1 billion and who has given $100,000 to Vance

03:31Groups.

03:32Kurtz is the CEO of the New Jersey-based Campson Corporation, a real estate firm with residential

03:38properties across the Northeast.

03:40He gave $100,000 to Vance's super PAC in 2022.

03:44That same year, he gave more than $200,000 to support Mehmet Oz's Republican Senate bid

03:49in Pennsylvania, routing the gifts through a set of apartment complexes he owns instead

03:54of donating under his name.

03:56Before that, he was no mega-donor.

03:58He rarely gave to presidential candidates, skipped entire cycles, and when he did give,

04:03the money went to both sides of the aisle.

04:06He gave $200,000 to Trump's PAC in April and now appears to be firmly committed to backing

04:12and no longer afraid to sign the checks with his own name.

04:17For full coverage and to see the rest of the list, check out Leo Kamen's piece on Forbes.com.

04:23This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:26Thanks for tuning in.

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