Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle who is a megadonor for the Republican Party, said this week that he has plans to back the presidential run of recently-announced candidate Tim Scott, who is a U.S. senator from South Carolina.
Ellison has been laying the groundwork for this financial support ever since the midterm elections last year, when he donated $30 million to a super PAC that supports Scott called Opportunity Matters Fund.
Scott, who is the only Black member of the Republican Party in the Senate, just announced on Monday that he would be running for the GOP nomination.
A fundraiser and strategist for the Republican Party who has close allies to Ellison spoke with CNBC recently and said the donations the Oracle co-founder will make to that super PAC now could easily double what he donated to it last year – if not more.
The Opportunity Matters Fund supported Scott during the midterm elections last year, as it did for many other Republican candidates who were seeking seats in the Senate. This includes roughly $2 million that went to Herschel Walker, who lost his bid for a Senate seat in Georgia.
The super PAC has new branding now as Scott is turning up the heat on his presidential run. It will now be known as the Trust In The Mission PAC, or TIM PAC for short.
When Scott officially announced his White House bid during a rally in South Carolina on Monday, Ellison was in attendance. In fact, he was a part of the VIP section of the event, which isn’t surprising for a man who has a net worth estimated at roughly $115 billion.
During the rally, Scott highlighted Ellison, calling him “one of my mentors.”
In 2020, Ellison donated a little more than $7 million to multiple policial causes. That included a $5 million donation to the Opportunity Matters Fund, as well as another $1 million that was given to a super PAC that supported Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins.
During the 2016 election cycle, Ellison contributed $5 million to the Conservative Solutions PAC. That group spent more than $30 million to support the failed presidential campaign of Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio.
In addition, the super PAC also spent millions of dollars to oppose the candidacy of former President Donald Trump.
CNBC also spoke to another veteran fundraiser for the Republican Party who said that Ellison has plans to give as much as $10 million to the newly-re-branded TIM PAC in just the early stages of Scott’s push for the GOP nomination.
Overall, the head of Oracle has said to some people close to him that he might contribute anywhere from $20 million to $30 million total during this election cycle.
A lobbyist who has worked with the company Oracle for years, and as a result knows Ellison well, says the businessman has great admiration for Scott due in large part to his solid support for Israel.
Despite the backing of a GOP megadonor, Scott is still considered a longshot to actually secure the GOP nomination.
