Venture capitalist Peter Thiel helped get his preferred GOP Senate candidates over the hump in their primaries. So why is he holding out on them in their general election contests against Democrats?
Leaks are emerging from conversations between Thiel and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) going back to May. Thiel had backed J.D. Vance in Ohio and Blake Masters in Arizona, each to the tune of $15 million, in their primaries. With competitive Senate races across the board, McConnell had wanted Thiel to continue financing Vance after his victory.
According to the sources interviewed by the Washington Post, “Thiel demurred.” One source who spoke to CNN said Thiel had the same attitude toward Masters’s race. According to CNN’s reporting, “the conservative tech mogul has been closely monitoring Masters’ performance and wants to see his campaign improve before making any decisions.” That probably would have been a good assessment to make before helping Masters clinch the nomination in a crucial Senate contest.
Were those leaks from McConnell’s camp with the intent of pressuring Thiel into upping his spending? Probably. But does that make Thiel’s withdrawal any less illogical and self-destructive? Of course not.
Masters and Vance are not good candidates. They aren’t particularly bad candidates either. What they are is Thiel’s candidates. He boosted them in GOP primaries as part of whatever vision he has for a future Republican Party, but he is now apparently content to watch them flounder in winnable Senate races that could swing control of the chamber (and stall President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations).
The Senate Leadership Fund, which is allied with McConnell, canceled $8 million in ad reservations for Masters in Arizona while moving to spend $28 million for Vance in Ohio. The group still has October ad time reserved for Masters but wants “to move additional resources to other offensive opportunities that have become increasingly competitive, as well as an unexpected expense in Ohio.”
The current polling average has Masters 8 points behind Sen. Mark Kelly and Vance neck and neck with Rep. Tim Ryan. Generic Republicans in both races would be better situated, but Thiel’s chosen candidates are floundering. Meanwhile, terrible Trump-endorsed candidates could cost the GOP Pennsylvania and a pickup opportunity in Georgia. There are other competitive races as well, with Republicans trying to defend Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and an open seat in North Carolina, as well as capitalize on pickup opportunities in Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado.
Control of the Senate is more important right now than some ideological ego trip. If Thiel wanted to jump in the poll and pick winners in GOP primaries, the least he could do is help push them to the finish line over Democrats. Otherwise, this looks like little more than a cynical ploy to saddle McConnell with mediocre candidates and scapegoat him when those candidates fail.
That is not worth another two years (or more) with a Senate run by Biden and Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
