Top donors, souring on DeSantis, start looking at Tim Scott

With Ron DeSantis stalling in the Republican presidential primary, some wealthy donors who’d hoped he could beat Donald Trump are now giving Tim Scott a serious look.

Billionaire businessman Ronald Lauder, the Estée Lauder makeup heir who supported Trump in 2020, recently flew to South Carolina to meet with Scott, the state’s junior senator and longshot presidential candidate, according to three people aware of the late June meeting.

The meeting comes amid widespread angst among wealthy GOP backers about the emerging 2024 field, and DeSantis’ bumpy start in particular. Many high-dollar donors in Trump’s native New York City have tired of the former president and worry about his general election chances. But they say their faith in the Florida governor has been shaken by early campaign missteps and his hardline positions on abortion, transgender rights and other culture-war issues. They fear time is running out for anyone else to break through.

Now, several donors are starting to more seriously mull backing Scott — a more traditional Republican alternative to the populist and combative Trump and DeSantis.

During their nearly hourlong discussion at a restaurant in Daniel Island, just outside Charleston, Lauder and Scott discussed what the senator sees as his path to victory. The two have spoken since their initial meeting, including in recent days, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Lauder, who declined to comment on the meeting, plans to get together with Scott again as he decides whether to cut him a check, one of the three people confirmed. He’s also interested in speaking with other candidates, the person said.

Lauder’s surveying of the field appears sparked by his souring on DeSantis. He had donated $200,000 to DeSantis’ initial gubernatorial run in 2018 and $10,000 to a super PAC supporting his reelection last year. And DeSantis visited him several months ago to pitch his candidacy, as POLITICO previously reported.

The cosmetics tycoon is not alone in the shift.

“A lot of donors that I’ve met are all curious and want to meet Tim and see what he’s about,” said Andy Sabin, a metal mogul and Republican contributor. “He’s the one guy running who’s got some personality and charisma. His delivery is terrific.”

Sabin was initially planning to support DeSantis’ White House bid but shifted allegiances to Scott during the spring. In an interview with POLITICO on Wednesday, Sabin said he is planning to host a fundraiser for Scott next month at his home in the Hamptons. He’s donated the maximum allowable amount to Scott’s campaign and said he intends to give to his super PAC.

Sabin applauded Scott’s personal responsiveness, saying the candidate texts back when he reaches out. Despite doing business in North Dakota and being contacted by Gov. Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign, Sabin said he is sticking with Scott. He cited an aggressive state law Burgum signed that bans nearly all abortions.

Scott has also supported abortion restrictions, saying he would sign “the most conservative” abortion bill that would reach his desk. But he has not explicitly stated his support for a national ban earlier than 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“No Republican, in my opinion, can win a national election unless they believe in at least a 15-week abortion window, because women vote,” Sabin said.

Other New York-based donors are also kicking the tires on Scott, according to three people based in the city who work closely with donors and were granted anonymity to freely discuss internal strategy. Two of those people are not affiliated with any candidate and one is partial to Trump.

“The major donors are still open and are still looking,” said one Republican who works closely with New York’s monied class. “They originally were with DeSantis. They’re looking for other options and Tim Scott right now is probably their top target.”

New York donors are not a reflection of the Republican Party at large and are often invested in candidates with a more moderate approach than the GOP base supports. But their anxiety about DeSantis does pose a major threat to the financial base that he was hoping to build in his efforts to take on Trump. And it illustrates larger concerns among the establishment that he hasn't quite met the expectations of him.

DeSantis has proven himself a prodigious fundraiser, and indicated as much in a statement on Wednesday. “Our campaign is grateful for the tens of thousands of grassroots supporters — and major donors — who have made it possible for us to build an unmatched organization in the early nominating states with the ability to compete for the long haul,” campaign spokesperson Andrew Romeo said.

Some of the donors in question previously supported Trump, but either soured on him or doubt his chances of defeating President Joe Biden in a general election, according to two of the people.

Stanley Druckenmiller — a billionaire investor who has given to the campaigns of moderate politicians, mostly Republicans — has also expressed interest in donating to Scott’s presidential campaign, according to a person familiar with their conversations. Druckenmiller previously gave to Scott’s Senate reelection run and recently praised his White House bid during an interview at the Bloomberg Summits conference in Manhattan.

Scott still faces an uphill climb in fundraising.

Trump’s team said the former president’s joint fundraising committee raised more than $35 million in the second quarter. The DeSantis campaign said it raised $20 million. And a super PAC backing the governor announced it had raised $130 million since early March, a number that includes an $82.5 million transfer from a Florida political committee affiliated with DeSantis.

And despite his stumbles in the primary — and his ruffling of some potential donors — DeSantis still appears to attract wealthy Republican backers. He recently held back-to-back fundraisers in New York at the Yale Club and the home of a prominent contributor. He will host another soiree in Southampton later this month with Nick Sinatra listed on the host committee, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.

Scott is posting nowhere near the kind of numbers Trump and DeSantis are. His team said Wednesday that he’d raised $6.1 million in the quarter ending June 30, with more than $21 million cash on hand. The super PAC supporting Scott’s bid said it raised $19.2 million so far this year, with more than $15 million cash on hand at the end of June.

Former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who is co-chairing the PAC, declined to provide the names of major donors who have given to it in recent months, but said the process is ongoing.

“I’d say the first visible fault lines we started to see along this theme was the comment made by DeSantis on Ukraine,” Gardner said, referring to the Florida governor’s comments in March that the country’s war with Russia amounted to a “territorial dispute.”

The remark, in response to a questionnaire from then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, stood in contrast to the Ukraine support offered by more traditional Republicans, including Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and Scott.

Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who serves as national co-chair of Scott’s presidential campaign and has close connections within the donor class, said a number of backers know some about Scott’s record in the Senate, and they find him likable. But they want to learn more about him.

Since before he formally announced his run, Scott has been attempting to combat a narrative that, as a genial 57-year-old senator, he is running for vice president. He and his top aides have vehemently denied that notion, while his team is spending millions of dollars on television advertisements in Iowa and New Hampshire to raise his name recognition with voters.

“They’re trying to figure out if he’s for real,” Haslam said of donors. “‘Is he in this thing to win it, and can he do that?’ There’s a lot of donors — and voters — out there who are ready for somebody to be president who’s never been president before.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified one of the people listed on the host committee of a fundraiser for DeSantis.