ADVERTISEMENT

David McCormick Gets Flood of Goldman Sachs Cash in MAGA-Fueled Senate Race

McCormick Benefits From Flood of Wall Street Cash in MAGA-Fueled Senate Race

A parade of senior Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives is writing one check after another to sway a crucial Senate primary in Pennsylvania.

More than 60 executives at the Wall Street giant have given the maximum allowed to support David McCormick, the hedge fund manager who has tried to position himself as “an America-first conservative” embracing Donald Trump’s agenda in the race to represent the Keystone State. He is married to Goldman partner Dina Powell McCormick. 

The Republican candidate has filled his team with former Trump aides including Stephen Miller and Hope Hicks, traveled to the Mexican border to fume about illegal immigration, and bought a Super Bowl ad featuring the chant “Let’s Go Brandon,” a coded vulgarity aimed at President Joe Biden. McCormick’s backers at Goldman include Chief Executive Officer David Solomon, President John Waldron and investment banking chief Dan Dees.

David McCormick Gets Flood of Goldman Sachs Cash in MAGA-Fueled Senate Race

Altogether, Goldman employees donated more than $220,000, in increments of the maximum $2,900 allowed per election, a campaign filing shows.

Miller isn’t being paid for his advice to the campaign, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The race may ultimately decide which party controls the Senate, currently deadlocked at 50-50. Pennsylvania’s primary is scheduled for May 17. Trump remains the GOP’s most popular figure and Republican primaries across the country are also doubling as a fresh litmus test for the power of his endorsement and his grip on the party.

McCormick, the 56-year-old former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, is vying with a half-dozen other Republican candidates to replace retiring GOP Senator Pat Toomey. Despite McCormick’s support for Trump’s populist Make America Great Again agenda, the former president recently endorsed physician Mehmet Oz, 61, a fellow television-minted celebrity.

And that endorsement came days after McCormick traveled to Trump’s Florida estate to seek his backing. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows McCormick with a lead of 4.2 percentage points over Oz. Republican strategists have said Trump’s endorsement probably won’t win the primary for Oz but could be the difference for him if the contest is close.

On the Democratic side, polls show Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman with a wide lead in a field that includes U.S. Representative Conor Lamb and State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, among others. 

Many Wall Streeters like to think of themselves as savvy investors in politics, nurturing connections to those likely to gain influence in Washington. Goldman’s executives are known as especially active, giving to both Republicans and Democrats. The burst of money for McCormick doesn’t match, for example, the $1 million that Goldman employees chipped in to Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency in 2008. 

But McCormick’s haul is climbing quickly. Solomon, Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman and asset management chief Julian Salisbury each offered $5,800 -- with $2,900 for the primary campaign, and the same amount again if he wins the GOP nomination, according to a filing to the Federal Election Commission. Waldron and Dees gave $2,900 to McCormick for the primary. Some of the Goldman contributors usually give more to Democrats.

‘Broad Support’

McCormick is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a Gulf War veteran who joined Bridgewater in 2009 after working for McKinsey & Co. and as a U.S. Treasury undersecretary for international affairs under George W. Bush. Since entering the race, he has tried to position himself as a businessman rather than the former head of the world’s largest hedge fund. 

McCormick spokesperson Jess Szymanski said the $4.3 million that he raised from individual donors in just 10 weeks -- including $1 million from Pennsylvania donors from all of the commonwealth’s 67 counties -- outpaced any other Senate candidate from either party.

“Dave McCormick has shown he is the only one in this race who has the broad support and fundraising strength necessary to lead one of the most expensive and important Senate races in the country and keep the seat in Republican hands,” Szymanski said in a statement.

Yet Oz and his allies have criticized McCormick’s ties to China as he led Bridgewater and its billion-dollar fund there. They dubbed him “China’s friend, not ours,” hoping to capitalize on the many Republican voters who blame China for the offshoring of manufacturing jobs and the coronavirus pandemic. McCormick has touted his efforts to counter China when he was in government. Oz has also accused him of being “a friend of Wall Street billionaires.”

By comparison, Oz got $5,800 donations from billionaires Thomas Peterffy, chairman of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Interactive Brokers and investor John Paulson, as well as from fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.

McCormick’s campaign took in $11.3 million in the first quarter, including $7 million in loans from the candidate. Oz has taken in $13.4 million, including $11 million he loaned his campaign.

If McCormick were to win the Pennsylvania Senate seat, he would be at least the third senator with an immediate relative at Goldman Sachs. Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s wife is a managing director in wealth management, while Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s son is in investment banking.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.