by Venture capitalist and GOP bigwig Peter Thiel has reportedly said he will focus on helping Arizona Republican Blake Masters in the final days of his campaign, as he believes Republican JD Vance is in a position to win in Ohio.
According to CNBC’s Brian Schwartz, Thiel, who has spent his time helping Masters and Vance, has indicated to his “deep-pocketed political network” that he is mostly done helping the Ohio Republican and will now focus on Arizona and defeat Democratic Senator Mark Kelly.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters speaks during his election night watch party on August 2, 2022, in Chandler, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
At a recent fundraiser at his home for Masters in Los Angeles, the GOP mega-donor reportedly told people he believes Vance is “on track” to win the open Ohio Senate seat he holds retired Republican Sen. Rob Portman present.
Schwartz wrote that, according to a person familiar with Thiel’s conversations at the event, the person said, “Peter said, ‘This race [Ohio Senate] The same person noted that he also said, “We just have to get Blake over the finish line.”
Thiel, the first major investor in Facebook, which has since been renamed “Meta,” stepped down from the social media giant’s board earlier this year to focus on supporting Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections, such as Vance and Masters. . He also already spent millions of dollars of his own money to help the two candidates.
Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance leaves the Senate Republican luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In fact, the two seats that Thiel spent money on could decide the majority in the Senate, which currently sits at 50-50, with Democrats in the majority because of Kamala Harris holding the tie for vice president. Republicans need just one seat to take a majority in the Senate and a clear five to take a majority in the House.
CNBC noted:
Thiel did not tell attendees at the fundraiser whether he plans to give more money to a super PAC supporting the Masters. But his decision to tell guests to focus more on the Masters than Vance shows he could still use more cash in the Arizona Senate race with a little more than a month until Election Day.
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At the Masters fundraiser, Thiel told attendees that Vance no longer needed the push he required during the GOP primaries because most polls show him ahead of Ryan, according to people familiar with Thiel’s conversations. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Vance leading Ryan by more than 1 percentage point. Ryan has raised more than $21 million while Vance has raised just over $3.6 million, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.
Thiel acknowledged that Masters trails Kelly in many public polls and needs a huge influx of cash to keep up with the incumbent’s fund owner, these people explained. Kelly’s campaign has raised more than $50 million while Masters has earned just over $4 million, OpenSecrets says.
There were at least 40 people in attendance at the Masters fundraiser at Thiel’s home, with about a dozen more who contributed but were unable to make the event, according to event organizers, Schwartz said.
If successful, with the event costing between $1,500 and $5,800, Masters could have raised between $75,000 and $290,000 in campaign contributions.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
