Arizona GOP Chair Urged Violence at the Capitol. The Mercers Spent $1.5 Million Supporting Her.
The billionaire Republican megadonors have funded numerous organizations now peddling baseless claims about the election.
> On December 19, Ward fired off a tweet urging President Donald Trump to “cross the Rubicon,” referring to the historical event that led to Julius Caesar declaring a dictatorship in ancient Rome. The tweet was shared by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
> On January 4, Ward’s Arizona Republican Party retweeted Ali Alexander, one of the organizers of the event that culminated in the Capitol siege, who said that he was “willing to give my life for this fight”; the Arizona GOP said, “He is. Are you?”
Later that day, the Arizona GOP tweeted, “This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something.”
> At a rally that also occurred on December 19, Alexander praised Ward, saying “I want to thank Chairwoman Kelli Ward and the Arizona Republican Party. I work in seven states, and there is no party like the Arizona GOP Party, so let’s thank Kelli Ward.” Alexander added that Ward’s Arizona GOP was “like no other.” Ward spoke at the rally.
Ward’s role could bring attention to her biggest financiers in politics: hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer.
The Mercers were the largest donors to Ward’s super PAC in both the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, giving $1.5 million in total as well as over $33,000 in direct contributions to her campaigns.
The Mercers have funded numerous other organizations now peddling baseless claims about the election.
Rebekah Mercer is a principal investor in the Parler social media network and has an equity stake in Breitbart News, which has propagated false information about the election being stolen. . .
In 2016, the Mercers spent over $22 million on efforts to support Trump and other Republicans like Ted Cruz, who helped lead a dozen senators to baselessly challenge the election results. While they spent much less publicly this election cycle, they still pumped over $1.8 million into efforts to elect Republicans. Robert Mercer donated over $300,000 to the Republican National Committee and an additional $1.5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s super PAC. McCarthy, R-Calif., was the highest-ranking member of Congress who sought to challenge the election results on January 6.
Given the delay of nonprofits in releasing tax statements and the ease of hiding dark-money donations, it will be several years before the public will have a complete sense of how much the Mercers spent to influence the election. . . “You can’t have the mass radicalization that we’ve seen without extraordinarily wealthy people funneling money in." , said Michael Edison Hayden, a spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Finally, the Mercers have donated $3.8 million to Citizens United, which is headed by David Bossie, Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager, who Trump tapped on November 6 to lead his efforts to challenge the election results in the states.
Leo, Rebekah Mercer, Ward, and the Arizona Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.
“The Mercers have been more than willing to finance efforts to blow up the political system altogether. That seems to be part of what they’ve done,” said Brendan Fischer, the director of federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center.
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