Some — but nowhere close to all — of the Republican Party’s biggest contributors cut large checks to Donald Trump in his first wave of fundraising, new documents filed Friday night with the Federal Election Commission show.
Trump Victory, his primary joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee, raised $25.7 million, slightly higher than the $25 million originally stated. And several of the party’s more prominent donors are the ones who powered it.
Trump Victory only transferred about $2.2 million to the campaign, which can only accept $2,700 per donor, highlighting just how dependent Trump will be on the RNC in this election cycle. His cash on hand figure will not rise substantially from the group’s collections.
A dozen individuals cut checks of $449,400, the maximum allowed: Darwin and Katrina Deason, of Texas; Anne and Carl Allen, also of Texas; Andy Beal of Texas; Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of Bob Mercer, one of the biggest donors in Republican politics, of New York: beverage tycoon John Ferolito of New Jersey; Diana and Llwyd Ecclestone of Florida; Leandro Rizzuto of Florida; and Richard and Hannah Buchan, also of Florida.
The quarterly report was the first filed by Trump Victory, offering a window into which well-endowed Republicans are the first batch to contribute to his presidential effort. Many of the top supporters have been previously identified on financial documents filed by the RNC or have come out prominently as Trump backers in the media.
Other prominent six-figure donors, according to the report, include Steve Mnuchin, the campaign’s finance chair; Arkansas poultry magnate Ronnie Cameron; longtime Trump business associate Thomas Barrack; fitness executive Jenny Craig; New York hedge-funder Stephen Feinberg; and prominent businessman Carl Icahn and his wife, Gail.
Some worrisome signs for the campaign did appear Friday evening: One pro-Trump super PAC, Committee for American Sovereignty, that planned to raise $20 million by the Republican convention only took in $45,000 by July 1.
And another Trump super PAC, Rebuilding America Now, that claimed to have $32 million in commitments when it rolled out with significant buzz in June, significantly underperformed. It has only raised $2.1 million, documents show.
No Trump super PAC so far has demonstrated that it is capable of raising the substantial amounts of money typically needed to fuel a major presidential campaign.