Washington Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida plunged into all-out battle this weekend for the biggest unclaimed prize in American politics and the decisive advantage that could go with it: the billion-dollar donor network once harnessed by Mitt Romney.
In hundreds of phone calls that began even before Romney formally announced Friday that he was forgoing a third bid for the presidency, allies of Christie and Bush began putting intense pressure on Romney’s supporters to pick a side. And now donors have nowhere to hide, since virtually every contender for the Republican nomination has established a leadership PAC or other fund-raising vehicle in recent weeks, and the candidates are leaning on them to make a commitment.
The next 48 hours, several donors said, could not only answer the question of whether Bush will face a serious challenge from Christie for the Republican Party’s establishment mantle. It may also demonstrate whether there is room left for anyone else in the first tier of Republican candidates.
“I’ve already had three phone calls from various camps asking me to have them over to talk,” said John Rakolta Jr., a Michigan construction executive and a leading Romney fund-raiser. “I’ve told them I need a weekend to process this all.”
In interviews, other top Republican donors, both committed and uncommitted in the 2016 race, said they believed a small group of other candidates besides Bush and Christie now had an opportunity to claim substantial establishment money. At the top of that list are Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Walker’s barnburner speech at a conservative gathering in Iowa last weekend has assuaged some donors’ concerns that he lacks the charisma to be an effective presidential contender, while Rubio earned high marks for his performance at an economic forum the same weekend hosted by Charles and David Koch.
“I do think this party is ready for an upset,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager who was on Romney’s New York finance team and spoke to representatives of several candidates after Romney dropped out. “This is not anybody’s coronation.”
Many donors may look for alternatives to Bush and Christie simply to ensure they have a seat in the candidate’s inner circle. Bush’s fund-raising operation, in particular, is already dominated by two generations of Bush family retainers and supporters.
But Christie and Bush remain best positioned to capitalise on Romney’s decision. Until Friday, the roughly three hundred “bundlers” whose Rolodexes of friends and business associates matter most in Republican fund-raising looked likely to be fragmented. That would have helped candidates relying on smaller networks of nonestablishment money, such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Both Christie and Bush’s advisers are courting Spencer J. Zwick, who led Romney’s finance team in 2012 and helped the former Massachusetts governor raise more money than any other Republican presidential candidate in history.
“Maybe Spencer does nothing,” said one Rubio supporter hopefully.
Some of the most intense competition is in New York, where Romney’s last campaign attracted hundreds of new Wall Street donors and generated tens of millions of dollars in campaign and “super PAC” contributions. Walker will travel to the city in mid-February to meet potential donors, according to a person involved in the planning, and has already begun to attract interest from former Romney supporters.
Christie attended a steakhouse dinner last week hosted by Kenneth G. Langone, a co-founder of Home Depot, with about 20 top donors. He was adamant, according to one attendee, that the New Jersey economy, marked by credit downgrades and a gaping budget hole last year, will not be a trouble spot for him if he runs.
While a number of prominent New York donors had already told Romney they were backing other candidates, some of the top bundlers for his 2012 campaign were waiting for Romney’s decision. Others had never committed in the first place and remain up for grabs. Two of the biggest remain uncommitted: Paul Singer, a billionaire investor whose opinion carries immense weight among other donors, and Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets.
But there will also be competition for some of the new donors Romney brought into high-level Republican fund-raising circles, particularly wealthy Mormons. Just a few prominent Mormon families provided at least $8 million to a pro-Romney super PAC in 2012.
“It sure changes the ballgame, doesn’t it?” said Frank L. VanderSloot, whose Idaho-based health-products company contributed $1 million (Dh3.67 million) to the super PAC. “The top ones that have my interest would be Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush. In my book, Chris Christie is out of it.”
One California donor who was holding out for Romney said about half of the people he had spoken with since Friday morning told him that they would support Bush. Bush made a fund-raising swing through Southern California last month, with events hosted by several donors or former officials in his brother’s presidential administration.
Christie, who started a leadership PAC last month, is preparing to hold fund-raising events in about 10 states over the coming months; Bush’s team has dozens of events scheduled for the winter and early spring, a punishing pace aimed at sewing up as much Republican money as possible before his first fund-raising disclosures are due. His team is also raising significant money from prominent lobbyists and other Republicans in Washington.
But Christie has already notched some well-known former Romney supporters. Bobbie Kilberg, a top Republican bundler from Northern Virginia, told Christie’s team on Friday that she and her husband would raise money for the governor if he entered the race.
“We’re going with Chris,” Kilberg said. “But I think all the candidates are going to burn the phones up. Everyone’s going to say, ‘I have the chance of getting the support of some of these Romney people.’”
— New York Times News Service
