Peter Thiel donated $2.6 million to Ron Paul’s campaign
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul speaks during a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada. Paul has received $2.6 million dollars in donations from Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel.
Peter Thiel donated $1.7 million to Ron Paul's presidential campaign in January, bringing his total donations to Paul to $2.6 million dollars, according to financial documents released Monday.
According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Thiel gave $1.7 million to Endorse Liberty, a super PAC which supports Paul, Politico reported.
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Thiel's donation amounted to over 70 percent of the $2.4 million Endorse Liberty received for the month of January, the Atlantic Wire reported. Thiel, a Silicon Valley investor and libertarian who co-founded PayPal and was one of Facebook's early investors, also made donations of $150,000 and $750,000 in December. He is responsible for 76 percent of the organization's total fundraising, according to the Atlantic.
“It’s an unusually libertarian movement,” Thiel said of Paul's campaign, Slate reported. “For the first time in perhaps 80 years, we have a chance to move the country in a more libertarian direction, with a less intrusive government, in both social and economic areas.”
Thiel has an estimated worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. He founded the hedge fund Clarium Capital in 2005.
PayPal co-founders Luke Nosek and Scott Banister also have donated to Paul’s super PAC, Forbes reported: Banister gave $50,000 in December, and Nosek gave $10,001 in January.
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More than half of all super PAC money this election cycle has come from 37 people, according to an analysis conducted prior to Monday's filings by PIRG and Demos, two research groups, CNN reported. Gifts of $1 million or more make up 38 percent of individual super PAC donations, and came from just 15 donors.
Ron Paul's campaign also gets a major push from small donors: over 52 percent of Paul's contributions come from small donors, which is more than any other Republican in the race and more than President Obama (who pulled at least 45 percent from small donors), according to the Huffington Post.
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