Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks to the Recent Hampshire Federation of Republican Women (NHFRW) at Saint Anselm College’s Recent Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester, Recent Hampshire, May 25, 2023.
Nicholas Pfosi | Reuters
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is seeing a wave of rich donor interest as he runs for president, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis struggles within the polls and hunts for donors within the ritzy Hamptons on Long Island, in line with people briefed on the matter and invites to events reviewed by CNBC.
Scott is planning to make a fundraising swing through the Hamptons himself throughout the second week of August, in line with invitations to a gathering and a Republican fundraiser working on the 2024 election cycle.
The event is scheduled to happen on Aug. 9 in the rich enclave and is ready to be co-hosted by former Trump National Economic Council director and one-time Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn, in line with Republican financier and former Trump backer turned Scott supporter Andy Sabin.
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller will co-host, Sabin told CNBC.
The invitation to the event, which was first reviewed by CNBC, shows that the fundraiser will happen in East Hampton. The precise location might be provided once donors RSVP. James Herring, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, can be listed as a co-host. Herring has already donated $6,600 to Scott’s 2024 run for president, in line with Federal Election Commission filings. Marc Rowan, the CEO of Apollo Global Management and a previous Scott donor, can be listed on the invite as a co-host to the event.
Tickets for the event go anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per person, with the cash being directed toward the Tim Scott Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that advantages his presidential campaign and his leadership PAC. Couples can get into the event at $10,000.
Source: Tim Scott Campaign
The Scott event is ready to occur just weeks after a fundraiser and donor meetings for DeSantis, including a gathering on the Southampton home of Robert Giuffra, who’s a co-chair of legal powerhouse Sullivan & Cromwell. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley might be within the Hamptons on Sunday for a fundraising event, in line with an invite reviewed by CNBC.
At the same time as former President Donald Trump has an amazing lead over DeSantis and the remainder of the sector within the GOP primary contest, the cash race forges on.
The Giuffra event for DeSantis raised north of $250,000, with no less than 50 people attending, in line with people briefed on the matter. Tickets went for $3,300 per person and $6,600 per couple, in line with the invite. Trump’s event over the identical weekend in North Carolina reportedly raised over $2 million. Scott, meanwhile, raised just over $7 million within the second quarter and went into the third quarter with over $21 million available.
A spokesman for Scott’s team declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Cohn didn’t reply to a request for comment. A representative for Druckenmiller said he’d decline to comment. A Goldman spokeswoman didn’t return a request for comment.
Sabin, who originally told CNBC he was planning to back DeSantis before he got into the race for president, is listed as a co-host of the Scott East Hampton event. He said he cannot attend due to a previous engagement. Still, Sabin is an element of a growing group of donors he says have soured on DeSantis and at the moment are leaning toward Scott due to Florida governor’s stance on abortion and his previous comments on the war in Ukraine.
Sabin said he will connect Scott with John Catsimatidis, a previous Trump donor and billionaire, who told the Washington Examiner he won’t back DeSantis because he has not returned his phone calls.
DeSantis’ problems, Scott’s gains?
Florida Governor and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference near the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 26, 2023.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Despite an earlier report saying two DeSantis fundraising events were canceled, people conversant in the governor’s trip said that wasn’t the case. As an alternative, these people said, from the moment he landed within the Hamptons early last week, DeSantis was attempting to recruit wealthy donors, including at gatherings with financiers at former Ambassador Clifford Sobel’s home in Southampton and on the Sebonack Golf Club, which is situated in the identical town and owned by businessman Michael Pascucci.
Sobel, who’s a managing partner at Valor Capital Group, donated $6,600 to DeSantis’ campaign in late June, in line with Federal Election Commission records. Sobel’s massive home in Southampton boasts a personal pool, beach access and a tennis court, in line with Virtual Globetrotting, an internet site that tracks the properties of the wealthy and famous.
Pascucci, who didn’t donate to DeSantis’ campaign within the second quarter, boasted in an interview with Business Jet Traveler in 2007 that he owned three private jets on the time: a Lear 55, a Gulfstream III, and and Embraer Legacy. Pascucci pledged $40 million to Bucknell University, his alma mater, in 2021.
Lots of those that spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. Giuffra declined to comment. Pascucci and Sobel didn’t return requests for comment.
Meanwhile, as polls show DeSantis hanging well behind Trump, people conversant in the matter said that wealthy Republican megadonors resembling cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder and hedge fund manager Paul Singer have each hinted to allies they’re fans of Scott and will find yourself backing him. A spokesman for Lauder said he has not officially decided who he will support. An individual near Singer said the hedge fund executive is “not making any moves anytime soon” with regard to the 2024 GOP primary fight.
Singer has been a daily contributor to Scott’s Senate campaigns since he first ran for the seat in 2014. Records show he has not given to any previous efforts in support of DeSantis. Lauder has donated over $200,000 to a DeSantis political motion committee that backed his successful runs for governor, in line with state campaign finance records. Politico reported earlier this month that Lauder met with Scott in Charleston after he announced his run for president.
Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for the DeSantis campaign, pointed CNBC to their fundraising efforts within the second quarter.
“Our campaign is grateful for the tens of hundreds of grassroots supporters – and major donors – who’ve made it possible for us to construct an unmatched organization within the early nominating states with the power to compete for the long haul,” Romeo said.
DeSantis’ failure to realize traction within the race, despite the fact that many in the rich donor community thought he may very well be a powerful alternative to Trump, has pushed some financiers toward Scott and other potential hopefuls resembling Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, these people explained.
The Virginia governor recently met with about 50 political financiers and leaders in Aspen, Colorado, this week on the Hotel Jerome, in line with an individual conversant in the meeting. Youngkin is heading to the Hamptons himself in August for an event hosted by former Trump Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, in line with The Messenger.
The governor was noncommittal in Colorado to the group on whether or not he’ll run for president this cycle, while he has said publicly he won’t launch a campaign for president this yr, this person said. The governor also admitted that if the polls and the pending primary results remain heading in the right direction, with current surveys showing Trump dominating within the race, it could make virtually no sense for him to run for president this time, this person added.
Burning through money
DeSantis’ campaign burned through money within the second quarter. It raised just over $20 million but finished the last quarter, which ended June 30, with around $12 million available, in line with Federal Election Commission records. The campaign spent tons of of hundreds of dollars on travel-related expenses, including private flights for the governor and hotels.
Top DeSantis aides have acknowledged that the campaign needs to handle money issues and are planning for a reboot, including hefty staff cuts, in line with NBC News. The campaign plans to chop costs for events, NBC News reported. DeSantis won’t travel less, but his campaign reportedly is aiming to make his appearances leaner and more intimate.
Some DeSantis donors are pointing to a key hire that may very well be helpful for the governor: longtime fundraising consultant Lisa Wagner who has joined the DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, in line with two people briefed on the matter. A PAC official told CNBC that Wagner has been a “member of the finance team for a while now” and that she’s been on contract with the committee for months.
The PAC has raised $130 million since its launch, including an over $80 million transfer from a state based PAC that backed DeSantis’ successful runs for governor.
Phil Cox, one among DeSantis’ previous top advisors, will even play a bigger outside role for the campaign itself, including helping on the fundraising front, a few of these people said.
Wagner has extensive experience working for presidential campaigns, including Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 Republican campaigns for president. She didn’t return a request for comment.
Don’t expect the campaign to significantly cut spending for personal air travel, though. An individual conversant in DeSantis’ considering said the governor believes he must fly private, at times, attributable to the difficulties of flying out of Florida capital Tallahassee. He also likes to fly privately along with his family and, within the campaign’s view, it could be difficult flying industrial with a security team.