(Benzinga) - The Republican Party has lost one of its most significant backers, as tech billionaire Peter Thiel says he will no longer be donating to any political effort, including Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
• Peter Thiel has drifted away from Donald Trump, denying him support in the 2020 presidential election.
• The billionaire investor was one of the largest backers of the Republican party in the 2022 midterms.
Sources close to Thiel told Reuters that the famed investor declared "on multiple recent occasions that he had withdrawn from U.S. politics."
Born in Germany, Thiel cut his teeth in the finance and tech industries, making his fortune by co-founding PayPal PYPL+1.91%+ Free Alerts and being an early investor in Facebook META-0.16%+ Free Alerts, among many other enterprises. His current net worth stands at $8.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Thiel had backed Trump‘s successful 2016 presidential campaign with $1.25 million. While he didn't support the former president’s 2020 campaign, he donated $35 million in the 2022 midterm elections, supporting 16 Republican candidates for federal congressional seats.
According to non-partisan research site OpenSecrets, Thiel Capital — Thiel's VC firm— was the fifth-largest donor to the Republican Party in 2022, and the11th largest overall donor when including all parties.
Privately-held logistics company Uline, owned by Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, was listed as the largest donor of the 2022 cycle, having contributed $89.8 million to the Republican Party.
Citadel, a hedge fund led by investor Kenneth C. Griffin came in second with $72.7 million and trading firm Susquehanna International Group was third with $56.4 million.
A business associate of Thiel's said that the Republican Party's recent focus on "culture war" issues drew him away from the party, citing the party’s position on abortion and transgender people's rights as examples.
The GOP should be more focused on how the U.S. can innovate and compete with China on the global market, said the source.
Earlier this month, The NY Times reported that Thiel is currently involved in one of many so-called "secret coalitions" of wealthy conservatives looking to "disrupt but advance the Republican agenda."
Grown dissatisfied with the political action of elected Republican politicians, these coalitions have allegedly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into side projects. The report indicates that Thiel is part of a coalition called the Rockbridge Network, which has invested $30 million on "conservative media, legal, policy and voter registration projects, among other initiatives."
Earlier this week, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic leaders expressed support for President Joe Biden's bid for the 2024 presidential candidacy.
Late last year, a report found that the Koch brothers, historically some of the wealthiest and most important contributors to the Republican Party, had been diverting funds to back Liz Cheney, as she considers a 2024 presidential campaign.
Still, a recent poll shows that Trump continues to be the favorite to win the Republican nomination, beating second-in-line Ron DeSantis in preliminary surveys.
By Natan Ponieman, Benzinga Editor
April 26, 2023
