Biden fund will get cash from son of GOP donor Larry Ellison

David Ellison, the son of Republican megadonor Larry Ellison, gave $929,600 to again the re-election efforts of President Joe Biden, placing him among the many prime current donors to the incumbent Democrat.

David Ellison’s donation is the biggest recorded contribution that the Skydance Media CEO ever made to a federal candidate, in response to Federal Election Commission data.

His contribution in February to the Biden Victory Fund is tied with different giant contributors within the first quarter of 2024.

Others who gave the identical quantity as David Ellison in that quarter embody the lawyer George Conway, who’s a number one critic of former President Donald Trump, and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz.

David Ellison’s donation comes as his father, Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle, has stored his pockets firmly shut this election cycle.

Larry Ellison, who traditionally has been a serious GOP donor, has not made a single federal political donation thus far in 2024, data present. Larry Ellison donated greater than $31 million to Republican candidates through the 2022 congressional midterms, in response to knowledge from OpenSecrets.

Charles Myers, the previous vice chairman at funding financial institution Evercore and a Biden marketing campaign bundler, mentioned that the donation from David Ellison to help Biden is a “very big deal” attributable to his household ties.

“It’s as impactful as if one of the Soros sons started writing huge checks to Trump,” Myers instructed CNBC, referring to Democratic megadonor George Soros.

Biden’s allies made a full-court press to recruit David Ellison, because the president’s political workforce tries to construct a marketing campaign struggle chest giant sufficient to successfully battle the presumptive Republican nominee Trump within the presidential election.

The transfer to realize David Ellison’s help — and his large donation — was largely orchestrated by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, in response to an individual with direct information of the matter, who was granted anonymity to debate personal issues.

Katzenberg is co-chair of Biden’s marketing campaign, and his efforts to land David Ellison as a backer included arranging a gathering with Biden, the supply mentioned.

David Ellison, in December, attended a non-public roundtable dialogue in Los Angeles that includes Biden and fewer than a dozen different attendees that included rich donors, the supply mentioned. That occasion was held on the residence of Kurt Rappaport, an actual property investor and Biden donor.

Rappaport instructed CNBC that he invited a “small group of friends” to his residence to attend the occasion and people in attendance had been “not necessarily” all main Biden financiers, however declined to remark additional.

David Ellison made his donation to the Biden Victory Fund after the occasion at Rappaport’s residence.

The Biden Victory Fund funds the Biden marketing campaign, the Democratic Nationwide Committee and dozens of state events, in response to Federal Election Fee data. Rappaport gave $929,600 to that fund final July, in response to FEC data.

David Ellison’s donation helped the Biden Victory Fund increase greater than $121 million within the first quarter of this 12 months. The same entity supporting Trump referred to as Trump Save America raised greater than $65 million that quarter, FEC data present.

Biden is trailing Trump by a single proportion level within the newest New York Instances and Sienna Faculty public opinion poll.

Larry Ellison supported Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in his bid for president however didn’t contribute to his marketing campaign. He’s now reportedly making an attempt to promote Scott to Trump’s workforce as the previous president’s working mate.

Whereas the Ellisons is perhaps on completely different sides within the 2024 election, the 2 are working collectively on a serious media deal.

David Ellison’s Skydance Media lately made a suggestion to accumulate Nationwide Amusements and merge with Paramount Photos. Larry Ellison, who has a reported web price of greater than $149 billion, is planning to help fund the proposed deal.

A spokesperson for David Ellison declined to remark. Katzenberg and the Biden marketing campaign didn’t return requests for remark.