One of the nation’s leading Democratic donors, billionaire George Soros, is finally throwing his fortune behind Hillary Clinton, investing $6 million into a super PAC backing her campaign, federal election records showed Sunday.
Soros, who backed Barack Obama in 2008 and has made some of the largest gifts to liberal causes this century, cut the $6 million check to Priorities USA, her top super PAC, on December 17, dipping his feet fully into the Clinton effort as she tries to beat back a surprisingly strong challenge from Bernie Sanders.
Sanders, for his part, raised more than $20 million in January, his campaign announced Sunday. Sanders campaign says its January haul, which will not be reported on Sunday’s filing, came from more than 777,000 individual contributions.
And the third Democrat still in the race? Martin O’Malley’s campaign operation is in severe trouble. He ended the year with $170,000 in the bank. Worse, his campaign is $530,000 in debt.
O’Malley entered the fourth quarter with just over $800,000 and raised $1.5 million — including a $500,000 loan. But it spent over $2.1 million, with no upward change in the polls.
All campaigns and super PACs must file their 2015 reports with the Federal Election Commission by the end of Sunday. Some are in good shape and will hype their numbers, especially their cash-on-hand heading into the month, in order to instill donor confidence in their campaign’s ability to go the distance.
Sunday is also the first chance in six months to see what how much big donors like Soros are giving to super PACs, the outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash to help candidates.
Priorities USA said Friday it has raised $50 million through this month, with another $42 million in pledges. Clinton’s campaign also announced it had $38 million on hand as of the end of the year.
Two other groups supporting Clinton, American Bridge and Correct the Record, brought in an additional $6 million total.
And while Sanders has sworn off super PACs, a group run by National Nurses United is backing the Vermont senator regardless and has raised $2.3 million, with about half of that remaining, the group reported.
Ben Carson, Jeb Bush’s super PAC burns cash as poll numbers fall
Jeb Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise, had an expensive summer and fall. The group has spent roughly $60 million backing Bush, as well as airing ads attacking GOP rivals like Marco Rubio. Bush’s poll ratings, however, have not been helped by the big spending. A CNN/ORC poll released July 1 had Bush leading the Republican field at 19% nationally. Last week, he was at 5%.
The group does still have plenty of money — over $58 million. But as Bush fell in the polls, it raised only $15 million in the final six months of 2015, $10 million coming from former AIG chief executive Hank Greenberg.
Ben Carson, meanwhile, also had a poor fall in the polls. At one point in the lead, Carson has consistently dropped. His campaign was also hit by the departure of his campaign manager. But his campaign spent big. He raised $22.7 million in the fourth quarter, spending over $27 million. He ended the year with only $6.6 million on hand, according to FEC records.
Carson’s main super PAC, The 2016 Committee, raised $6.1 million in the second half of 2016, but spent nearly all its money and retained only $560,000 as of December 31.
Billionaires backing Marco Rubio
Conservative Solutions PAC, Marco Rubio’s super PAC, raised nearly $16 million in the second half of 2015 and had about $14 million on hand.
Rubio in recent months has successfully courted some of the GOP’s leading financiers, and it is showing.
Several individuals gave $1 million to the group, including Norman Braman, a Rubio mentor from Florida who has now given a total of $6 million to the super PAC.
And two new billionaire donors to Rubio’s circle, Paul Singer and Ken Griffin, each gave $2.5 million.
Rubio’s campaign raised just over $14 million in the fourth quarter, ending the year with $10.39 million, it said Sunday night.
Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz ended the year in a strong position. He raised $20.5 million in the last three months of 2015, ending with $18.7 million.
Stand for Truth, a mysterious pro-Cruz super PAC that formed only recently, revealed its donors on Sunday — nearly half of the money raised by it came from the family of Adam Ross, a close Cruz friend from Texas. It still had $2.1 million in the bank.
Republican super PACs
Rand Paul’s authorized group, America’s Liberty PAC, has been beset by scandal — its top two operatives were once indicted — and now has poor fundraising results: it only collected $1.4 million, with only about $830,000 on hand.
Other groups are in a stronger position: John Kasich’s two super PACs, brought in over $3.6 million — much of which through smaller, five-digit checks — and had under $2 million remaining. Christie’s group, America Leads, raised $5.1 million thanks to prominent hedge-funder Steve Cohen, who sank another $2 million to the super PAC. It still had $3.3 million on hand.