And over the past five years, the Adelsons have given $ 280 million to the House and Senate major super-PACs, which account for more than a third of the Congressional Leadership Fund funding and nearly a quarter of the total Senate Leadership Fund delivered during that time. to a POLITICO review of FEC data. Their total federal donation over the past decade has been more than half a billion dollars.
“Sheldon Adelson was the GOP megadonor of GOP megadonors,” said Ken Spain, a former spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. ‘He’s been a crucial factor in dozens, if not hundreds, of races over the last decade. In a world where Democrats can rely on small-dollar donations that can contribute up to ten million dollars, the loss of a large donor of Adelson’s format will be felt. ‘
Several senior Republicans predicted that Miriam would continue the family’s substantial gift to the IDP. “But it remains to be seen whether it will continue at the astronomical level to which the Republicans are now accustomed,” Spain said.
Miriam, 75, was intimately involved in the political giving of her husband, and the couple usually cut the same checks at the same time when they were donated to GOP groups. For many candidates and party organizations, winning the support of Adelsons was considered essential to their survival.
His financial seal of approval – lent during his decades as a contributor to dozens of Republican groups – indicates a group’s credibility for the rest of the donor class. One senior Republican involved in outside spending said Adelson was a ‘North Star’ for donors, who ‘always wanted to see if he was involved in a project as a measure of its value or importance to the party. ‘
However, some Republicans have warned that Adelson has become a crutch for the party, which has become dependent on megadonors to power its political machinery. Democrats, on the other hand, built a more muscular digital fundraising machine, which set up anti-Trump energy to raise hundreds of millions of dollars that often exceeded Republican megadonors’ efforts.
In mid-2020, for example, the Adelsons will increase their contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate IDP’s chief PAC, to $ 50 million for the year. But the top nine candidates for the Democratic Senate collectively collected even more than those online in August. (The Adelsons later increased their SLF contributions to $ 70 million for the 2020 election.)
A chorus of Republican officials mourned Adelson’s death Tuesday. In the statements, the chairman of the Congressional Leadership Fund, Norm Coleman, Adelson calls “a giant” and a “visionary in every arena,” and Senate Leadership Fund CEO Steven Law cites Adelson as the “living , breathtaking proof of the power of the American dream “, which was” much more interested in doing good than seeking recognition for it. ”
Adelson, the son of a manager, rose through the hospitality and gambling world, primarily in Nevada, to build one of the world’s largest casino and resort hotel empires. In 2020, Bloomberg valued Adelson’s wealth at $ 33.4 billion. He began donating to Republican affairs in the 1990s, but his political power balanced after the Supreme Court in 2010. Citizens United decision, which loosened limits on extra-political spending.
During the 2008 election, Adelson was a key donor to Freedom’s Watch, an organization that supported Republican congressional candidates. During the 2012 presidential race, he and his wife donated more than $ 20 million to a super-PAC backed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich before making a $ 30 million turn to the super-PAC support Mitt Romney after securing the nomination.
In 2016, the Adelsons handed out tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC. The couple were rewarded for their support with seats on the scene for Trump’s inauguration, and Trump later awarded Miriam, a doctor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
During the 2020 election, Trump advisers view Adelson’s greatness as critical to the president’s re-election prospects. But when the race entered its final stretch, there was a problem: Trump overturned Adelson during a heated summer phone call, causing the mogul to delay his planned donation to the president. The Adelsons would eventually pull the trigger around Labor Day and donate $ 90 million to a newly formed super PAC, Preserve America, which attacked Democrat Joe Biden.
Unlike many important donors motivated by different interests, Adelson was largely driven by one single cause: Israel. The 87-year-old mogul helped fund organizations such as the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America. He was a staunch supporter of Trump’s decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and a key pillar of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party.
The RJC holds its annual conference each year at Adelson’s Venetian Resort, an event that would regularly draw party heavyweights, ranging from Senator Ted Cruz in Texas to Senator Lindsey Graham in South Carolina to Vice President Mike Pence.
“His advocacy for the state of Israel and Jewish affairs has been unparalleled and has made a difference in countless lives at home and abroad,” former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a statement released Tuesday. is.