The Democrats hold a pair of fundraising aces with billionaires George Soros and Tom Steyer, but Republicans are raising the stakes by bringing to the table a billionaire of their own.
The Republican National Committee named Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas luxury hotelier, as the party’s finance chairman following his stint as vice chair of President Trump’s inaugural committee, which raised a record $100 million.
Mr. Wynn, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $2.4 billion, is founder and chairman of Wynn Resorts.
“I look forward to helping President Trump and his administration make America greater again for the people who work hard every day,” Mr. Wynn said in a statement. “Our goal is to bring together people of all backgrounds to meet the challenge of making a better life for all Americans.”
RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said Republicans were “proud to have Steve Wynn on board as RNC finance chairman.”
“His incredible career has been marked not just by extraordinary business success, but meaningful relationships with his employees, guests and Americans of all backgrounds,” said Ms. McDaniel, the niece of 2012 Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
“He understands and shares the national enthusiasm for President Trump, and will bring his passion for American values, his leadership skills and his track record of outstanding results to our Finance operation,” Ms. McDaniel said. “We welcome to our team a true patriot who is all-in to help us raise the support needed to maintain the RNC’s record level of organizational strength.”
The pick indicates that the two billionaire resort moguls have agreed to put the past behind them after a history of skirmishes.
Mr. Wynn has called Mr. Trump a “cartoon,” “perverse exaggeration” and “second-string adolescent,” while Mr. Trump described Mr. Wynn as “a very strange guy” and “very slick and smooth” in his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal,” according to New York magazine.
Mr. Wynn, 75, initially backed Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, although he only contributed $2,700 to his primary campaign.
“By the time Trump won the White House, however, Wynn had the back of his one-time nemesis. When designer Tom Ford let it be known that he would not design clothing for first lady Melania Trump, Wynn booted Ford’s designer glasses and cosmetics from the Wynn Las Vegas,” said Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Debra J. Saunders.
Mr. Wynn gave $833,000 to Republican joint fundraising committees in 2016, but that wasn’t enough to crack the top 100 individual donors, who were led by Mr. Steyer with $87.6 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Mr. Wynn, like the new president, has backed both Republicans and Democrats in the past, contributing $20,000 in 2000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In the 2016 campaign, he made donations to Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, according to the Federal Election Commission.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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