Peter Thiel, Republican megadonor, won’t fund candidates in 2024 -
sources
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[April 26, 2023]
By Anna Tong, Alexandra Ulmer and Jeffrey Dastin
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tech billionaire and Republican megadonor
Peter Thiel, an early backer of former President Donald Trump who later
broke with him, has told associates he is not planning to donate to any
political candidates in 2024, according to two people close to the
businessman.
Thiel is unhappy with the Republican Party's focus on hot-button U.S.
cultural issues, said one of the sources, a business associate, citing
abortion and restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can
use in schools as two examples.
Thiel came to this conclusion by late 2022, the sources said. He
believes Republicans are making a mistake in focusing on cultural
flashpoints and should be more concerned with spurring U.S. innovation -
a major issue for him - and competing with China, the business associate
said.
Thiel's plans for the Republican primary and general election have not
been previously reported. Online news site Puck previously reported
Thiel was most likely either to support Trump or sit out the primary.
Thiel declined a Reuters request for an interview.
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When Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, he had more
hope that the party would concentrate on economic issues, his business
associate said.
"I am proud to be gay," Thiel said on stage. "But most of all I am proud
to be an American. I don't pretend to agree with every plank in our
party's platform, but fake culture wars only distract us from our
economic decline, and nobody in this race is being honest about it
except Donald Trump."
Four political sources also told Reuters that Thiel is taking a step
back from U.S. politics. Thiel, who diverged from his Silicon Valley
peers with his embrace of conservative causes, identifies as a supporter
of libertarianism, a political philosophy that stresses the importance
of individual freedoms.
DONORS HESITATE
The German-born entrepreneur has a fortune estimated at around $4.2
billion after co-founding PayPal and Palantir and investing early in
Facebook. He has contributed around $50 million to state and federal
political candidates and campaigns since 2000, and he was the 10th
largest individual donor to either party in the 2022 midterm
congressional elections, according to the non-profit OpenSecrets.
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![](../images/042623PIX/news_s93.jpg)
Peter Thiel attends the annual Allen and
Co. Sun Valley Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 6,
2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Thiel's decision underlines how the Republican Party’s swing to the
right on social issues is alienating some prominent, business-minded
donors.
Several top donors have said they are hesitant to support Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce a run for the
White House soon, after he signed a bill into law that bans most
abortions after six weeks in Florida. None said they intended to sit
out the entire 2024 election cycle as a consequence.
In 2012, Thiel backed libertarian lawmaker Ron Paul, and in 2016 he
donated some $1.25 million to the campaign efforts of Trump, who is
the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
In 2020, Thiel did not financially back Trump's re-election efforts,
according to OpenSecrets. Thiel liked some of Trump's policies while
in office but disapproved of the chaos surrounding the former
reality TV star's presidency, said one of the sources, who is close
to Thiel personally.
In the 2022 election cycle, however, Thiel emerged as a potential
Republican kingmaker, contributing more than $35 million to 16
federal-level Republican candidates, according to OpenSecrets.
Twelve of those candidates won.
To be sure, Thiel could yet change his mind on political
contributions for the 2024 cycle, although both sources familiar
with his donation plans said they had heard Thiel declare on
multiple recent occasions that he had withdrawn from U.S. politics.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/26/images/ads/current/goodman_sda_SHG_2023.png)
The source who knows Thiel personally said he had cautioned that he
could still support candidates who have worked for him, as he did in
2022, when the bulk of his $35 million in donations went to two
former colleagues running for the Senate as Republicans: J.D. Vance,
who won, and Blake Masters, who lost a race pundits considered
winnable even though he received some $20 million from Thiel.
The business associate said he was not aware of any special proviso
for former employees.
Thiel is married to businessman Matt Danzeisen, with whom he has two
toddlers. Concerns about his family's safety have weighed in Thiel's
decision to step back as well, the source who knows him personally
told Reuters.
(Reporting by Anna Tong, Alexandra Ulmer and Jeffrey Dastin, Editing
by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)
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