WASHINGTON — Most of Pennsylvania’s biggest Republican donors — including those who gave the maximum amount to President Donald Trump in 2020 — have yet to open their checkbooks for 2024. Wednesday’s debate may start encouraging them to whip out their pens.
“Looking at this historically, it seems to be that the first debate is an important event,” said former Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., part of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2016 presidential campaign’s leadership team. “Quite a few donors are waiting to see what happens in the upcoming debate and other events.”
The 2024 Republican candidates share a podium for the first time on Wednesday in Milwaukee on a debate to be aired on Fox. Fox Business is to broadcast the second one from the Reagan Library in California in September.
“We are seeing a number of major donors holding back so far,” said Michael Toner, part of the legal team for five Republican presidential candidates and former chair of the Federal Election Commission. “We have to get through the first two debates. The major donors respond to candidates who are connecting.”
Any momentum from the debates can translate into better poll numbers and increased fundraising. The next reports are due Oct. 15, and a surge in donations can help catapult a candidate into the top tiers. The debates and the fundraising deadline also will help whittle the field from the current 12 candidates.
“By the time we get to Oct. 15, that is often a fateful day,” Mr. Toner said. “Either they’re really gaining ground or they’re not and they’re dying on the vine.”
So far, polls show former President Donald Trump as the clear frontrunner for the nomination, but even he is not getting the support from the Pennsylvania donors who helped fund his unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid. Through June 30, none of his top 2020 contributors have given to him in 2024, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.
In a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday, Mr. Trump led the Republican primary field with 57% among registered Republicans nationally and those who lean toward the GOP. That was far ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was in second place with 18%. None of the other Republicans polled higher than 5%.
“They think the outcome is pretty well determined at this point,” Harrisburg-based Republican consultant Charlie Gerow said. “At this juncture, it’s wait and see.”
One of the major exceptions is the Keystone State’s largest Republican donor, Jeffrey Yass, managing director and co-founder of the Susquehanna International Group. He donated $2.5 million this year to Mr. DeSantis’ state political committee; $600,000 to a super PAC backing U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.; and $250,000 to the super PAC supporting Mr. Christie.
Brian Hard, president and CEO of Penske Truck Leasing in Reading, gave $5,600 to Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign. This year, he donated $3,900 to Mr. Scott and $3,300 to Mr. DeSantis, but nothing to Mr. Trump.
And former U.S. Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., used his Senate campaign committee to donate $25,000 to Mr. Scott’s super PAC.
Mr. Yass, Mr. Hard and Mr. Toomey did not respond to requests for comment made through their employers.
“Most of your large donors in Pennsylvania and throughout the country are businesspeople, and some give based on beliefs and policy, but the vast majority base their support on whether a candidate is good for business,” said Vince Galko, a Republican strategist from northeastern Pennsylvania. “Right now, many aren’t going to invest yet. And will they invest at all if they think it’s going to be a bloodbath?”
Mr. Trump’s legal troubles also may be entering the equation, Republican consultants said. He has been indicted four times, and his leadership political action committee, Save America, has spent more than $20 million this year alone on legal fees, FEC filings show.
Longtime Washington Republican consultant John Feehery speculated that potential contributors “probably don’t want their donations to pay for his legal bills.”
Christopher Nicholas, a longtime Harrisburg-based Republican consultant, said he’s heard “the grumblings” — why should donors “give a billionaire money for his defense fund, because apparently that’s where almost all of it’s gone.”
Mr. Trump did receive a $1 million donation from New York Jets owner Woody Johnson for his super PAC earlier this year. Mr. Johnson, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration, had donated $1 million to the 2020 super PAC as well.
Other donors to Mr. Trump’s 2020 super PAC gave to other candidates this year instead. Warren Stephens, CEO of Stephens Inc., donated $1.5 million to the Trump super PAC in 2020 but this year has written checks to the super PACs of former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Mr. Christie.
The biggest Republican donors in 2022, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, had given Mr. Trump’s super PAC $3.3 million for the 2020 campaign. This year, they donated $2 million to Mr. DeSantis’s super PAC.
In addition, retired investor John Scarpa, who gave $100,000 to the 2020 Trump super PAC, and his wife Jana each donated $6,600 to Mr. DeSantis’ campaign. Mr. Scarpa was on the host committee for a New Jersey fundraiser for the Florida governor in June, according to an invitation obtained by the Post-Gazette.
There could be another reason for the dearth of early donations, Mr. Gerow suggested. He blamed it all on President Joe Biden.
“Bidenomics has put the squeeze on everybody,” he said.
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com, @JDSalant; Benjamin Kail: bkail@post-gazette.com, @BenKail
First Published: August 21, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: August 21, 2023, 2:31 p.m.
