Griffin, Schwarzman Fuel McCormick Super PAC’s $18 Million Haul
(Bloomberg) -- Citadel’s Ken Griffin, Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman and Elliott Management’s Paul Singer are among the donors who collectively gave nearly $18 million to a super political action committee supporting David McCormick, a Republican running for US Senate in Pennsylvania, according to a person familiar with the group’s finances.
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A representative for the super PAC, Keystone Renewal, confirmed Wednesday they contributed. McCormick, a former chief executive officer at hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, is seen as a business-friendly Republican who could pose a formidable challenge to Democratic incumbent Senator Bob Casey in the 2024 election.
The $18 million that Keystone Renewal raised since it was formed in August is in addition to the $6.4 million the McCormick campaign raised in the fourth quarter.
Griffin in a statement said McCormick is a“proven business leader who understands what it takes to create jobs and grow a company,” adding that, “America will be well served if talented patriots and leaders like David are elected to serve in Congress.”
Representatives for Blackstone and Elliott declined to comment.
“This shows that there is not only real excitement and momentum for McCormick’s candidacy, but also the fact that Pennsylvania is a state that McCormick will win in November,” Keystone Renewal’s spokesperson, Brittany Yanick, said in a statement.
Griffin, Charles Schwab and Paul Tudor Jones hosted a fundraiser for McCormick in December at Jones’ Palm Beach, Florida home, in December. Others involved in that event included former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross; San Francisco Giants principal owner Charles Johnson; former Colorado Senator Cory Gardner; and Byron Trott, founder of merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners LLC.
The long list of major Republican donors — many of whom have no connection to Pennsylvania — demonstrates how the party’s top contributors are eager to flip the Senate to GOP control in the 2024 elections. Democrats hold a narrow majority in the chamber, but face several tough races next year in states including Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, which voted for former President Donald Trump 2020.
McCormick previously ran for Senate in 2022, for the seat now held by Democrat John Fetterman. He narrowly lost the Republican primary to television celebrity Mehmet Oz, whom Trump endorsed. Some prominent Republicans, including former Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, have blamed former President Donald Trump for supporting candidates in primaries that did not perform well in the general election.
The $18 million haul is a large sum that portends an expensive race. In his unsuccessful 2022 bid, McCormick’s super PAC raised $21 million. But that was paltry compared to the amount outside groups poured into the second most expensive Senate race that year. Super PACs spent $222.5 million in the general election alone, according to OpenSecrets.
--With assistance from Dawn Lim and Hema Parmar.
(Updates with Griffin comment, Blackstone decline to comment.)
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