Biggest benefactors
Here are the top individual donors to Friends of Ron DeSantis dating back to 2018:
Kenneth C. Griffin, $10.8 million: Founder and CEO of the investment firm Citadel LLC, Griffin is the No. 5 3 richest person in the world with a net worth of $2 7 billion, according to Forbes’ 2 0 2 2 ranking of billionaires. Griffin was born in Daytona Beach, grew up in Boca Raton and resides in Chicago. He has been a major GOP donor over the years, but he indicated he won’t back Trump in 2 0 2 4 .
Laura and Ike Perlmutter, $2 .6 million: Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, and his wife, Laura, were top donors to Trump. Ike Perlmutter informally advised Trump on veterans issues at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach estate, according to reporting by ProPublica.
Liz and Dick Uihlein, $1.9 million:The New York Times dubbed the Uihleins “the most powerful conservative couple you’ve never heard of.”The Chicago-area couple ranked as the No. 2 conservative donor for the 2020 election, contributing $68.3 million to conservative candidates and causes, according to OpenSecrets. Only the late Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, gave more. Dick Uihlein, an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune, is president of Uline, a shipping and packaging supply company he founded with his wife. His political contributions include $800,000 in September 2020 to Tea Party Patriots, which helped to organize the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection.
John W. Childs, $1 .3 million: A privateequity billionaire, Childs is a seasonal Florida resident with a home near Vero Beach.
David MacNeil, $1 .1 million: Founder and CEO of WeatherTech, MacNeil donated to Trump. In 2 0 1 8 , he vowed to cut off funding to any Republican who didn’t support protecting young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Charles B. Johnson, $755,000: Principal owner of the San Francisco Giants, Johnson was listed as the top political donor in sports in an October 2 0 2 0 investigation by ESPN and FiveThirtyEight with nearly $1 1 million in contributions from 2016-2020.
Bernard Marcus, $750,000:Cofounder of Home Depot, Marcus was also a top Trump donor. He has a home in Palm Beach County.
Paul Tudor Jones II, $650,000: A billionaire Palm Beach hedge fund manager, Jones co-founded the Everglades Foundation, which advocates for the preservation of the Everglades and wetlands.
Walter W. Buckley Jr., $600,000: Buckley is a retired money manager living in North Palm Beach.
Thomas Peterffy, $560,000:With a net worth of $2 0 .1 billion, Peterffy is the richest person in Florida, according to Forbes. The Hungarian-born business owner lives near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. He supported Trump, but Peterffy told Bloomberg News in September that DeSantis was his “favorite man.” He also told Bloomberg earlier that year he didn’t support Trump until he became the Republican nominee and hopes he doesn’t run again.