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Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, facing a close election Tuesday in Georgia, received a late wave of donations from the real estate and financial sectors.
Their Democratic challengers, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff respectively, have also enjoyed a fundraising advantage in the races, which will determine whether the Democrats or the GOP have an advantage in the Senate.
Wall Street donors are contributing to Perdue and Loeffler over concerns that a Democratic Senate could help President-elect Joe Biden push for tighter financial sector regulation, GOP strategist said with banking clients . This person refused to be named in order to speak freely.
Biden is seeking to raise taxes on businesses as well as families earning more than $ 400,000.
Mike Novogratz, a longtime finance executive with an outside effort to help the two Georgia Democrats, had previously suggested that Democratic donors on Wall Street might not offer much help to Warnock and Ossoff.
“It will be a money war,” Novogratz told CNBC in November after none of the candidates won 50% in their election, prompting a run-off. “Having said that, many Wall Streeters love the divided government,” he added.
The large contributions by the financial community to the two Republican candidates are a departure from the presidential election, when those donors combined to invest more than $ 74 million in Biden’s presidential race. Many have abandoned Trump’s reelection bid and his subsequent legal effort to overturn the election.
All the money invested in campaigns and outside political action committees has led to nearly $ 490 million in TV ad spend since Nov. 4, according to data from Ad Impact. More than $ 100 million has been spent on TV ads for the two races since Dec. 28, Ad Impact said.
Perdue, who lagged behind in fundraising behind rival Ossoff between October and mid-December, recently saw a surge of support from executives in finance and real estate. At least 30 executives from those industries have donated between $ 1,000 and the campaign’s maximum contribution of $ 2,800 to Perdue, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Perdue has come under scrutiny for a series of stock transactions that, at times, seemed to coincide with congressional briefings while on key Senate committees. Perdue has denied the wrongdoing. The New York Times reported in November that some of Perdue’s trades were under investigation by the Department of Justice. Perdue’s team said at the time that the Justice Department “cleared Senator Perdue of any wrongdoing.”
The founder of the hedge fund, John Paulson, donated $ 2,800 to the Perdue campaign on December 14. Paulson rose to fame during the financial crisis for bypassing the housing market.
Randal Nardone, co-founder of investment firm Fortress, gave Perdue $ 2,800 on the same day. Fortress has nearly $ 50 billion in assets under management.
Edward Mule, CEO of investment firm Silver Point Capital, gave Perdue $ 5,600 on December 22. On the same day, Richard Kent Long, senior vice president of the private prison group GEO Group, donated $ 1,000 to Perdue.
Other recent Perdue backers from these industries include Neal Aronson, founder and managing partner of private equity firm Roark Capital; Clifford Asness, co-founder of the hedge fund AQR Capital Management; Glenn August, CEO of investment firm Oak Hill Advisors; Steve Witkoff, CEO of real estate giant Witkoff Group, and John Lehman, chairman of investment firm JF Lehman & Company.
Jane Goldman, who runs real estate firm Solil Management, gave Perdue and Loeffler $ 2,800 in the last two weeks of December. Forbes says Goldman is worth $ 3 billion.
Meanwhile, Loeffler’s campaign recently saw at least a dozen contributions from executives in similar positions. She is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. Sprecher donated $ 10 million to a pro-Loeffler super PAC in 2020, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Loeffler herself came under scrutiny for a series of stock trades at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which led the couple to sell all of their individual stocks.
At the end of December, Robert Grammig, partner at the Holland & Knight law firm, gave Loeffler $ 2,800. Grammig specializes in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.
Jared Yavers, an executive at Yellow Cab Holdings, donated $ 2,500 to the Loeffler campaign on December 21. Yellow Cab is an investment company focused on real estate.
Thomas Hauske Jr., executive chairman of Wisconsin-based Marshall Street Capital, donated $ 2,500 to Loeffler’s campaign two days later.
Democrats Warnock and Ossoff received their own donations from the real estate and finance sectors, albeit at a lower rate than their Republican opponents. Between the two Democrats, they have teamed up to receive the support of nearly 20 finance and housing executives in the final stages of the race.
Karen Pritzker, investor and billionaire heir to the Pritzker family’s fortune, gave Ossoff $ 2,800 on December 23, according to records. Pritzker’s family office helped finance LaunchCapital, a start-up investment fund.
Alan Pardee, Managing Partner at Valor Equity Partners, donated $ 1,000 to Ossoff the same day.
George Van Amson, longtime managing director of Morgan Stanley, donated $ 1,000 to the Warnock campaign on December 14.
Representatives for the four campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.
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