Toby Neugebauer made headlines last year by donating $10 million to a pro-Ted Cruz super PAC.
He’s taking $9 million of it back.
The Texas energy investor and son of retiring Rep. Randy Neugebauer ran Keep the Promise II, one of several pro-Cruz super PACs under the Keep the Promise umbrella. But despite pleas from fellow Cruz backers throughout the campaign, he never followed through with big spending to help the Texas senator against Donald Trump, only spending $1 million of his $10 million investment.
Although Cruz, who ended his presidential hopes Tuesday, was never short on campaign or super PAC cash, Neugebauer’s reluctance to spend his stands out following the early, considerable buzz that the massive, original super PAC donations attracted.
“Ted and his team did a great job. He will be president someday,” Neugebauer told CNN Wednesday, saying that Cruz would have won had it not been for Trump. “Campaigns will never be the same. Negative ads don’t work.”
Neugebauer maintained throughout 2015 and 2016 that he would spend his cash as the campaign approached more expensive states, but he consistently declined entreaties from super PAC officials to spend his original donation, including one made before Cruz’s disappointing finish in South Carolina. In March, he left open the door to CNN to not spending his cash at all should Cruz become “no longer viable.”
Because Neugebauer’s $10 million was invested in a super PAC that he solely funded and controlled, he is more easily able to withdraw the unspent sums.
