GOP Megadonor Miriam Adelson, Who Gave Trump Over $100 Million, Will Sit Out 2024 Primary: Report

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

The GOP’s “most prominent megadonor wants nothing to do with the fight” over the 2024 presidential primary, according to a new report by Politico, despite having poured over $100 million into helping former President Donald Trump.

Miriam Adelson, 76, is an Israeli-American physician and the widow of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who passed away in Jan. 2021. Her majority stake in the Las Vegas Sands Corp. has made her the richest woman in the casino industry with an estimated net worth of around $38 billion.

The Adelsons sat out the 2016 Republican primary battle and then became one of Trump’s top financial backers, directing millions of dollars to his presidential campaigns, SuperPACs, 2016 inaugural committee, and legal defense fund for the Mueller investigation.

With the battle looming for the 2024 GOP nomination, multiple prospective candidates have sought out Adelson’s support, Politico reported, with her team “bombarded” with requests for face-to-face meetings. She’s reportedly already met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL),  Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson — as well as Trump, who is widely expected to launch a third run for the White House.

But so far, she remains determined to keep her checkbook closed, according to “two people with direct knowledge of the discussions” she’s been having with these prospective candidates. Her reasoning is reportedly a desire to stay out of what is projected to be a “bitter” fight for the nomination, regardless of whether or not Trump throws a red MAGA hat into the ring.

Adelson isn’t staying completely on the sidelines. For the 2022 midterm elections, FEC campaign finance reports show she has donated $5,000 to Trump’s Stand for America PAC and a total of $10,000,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC that supports GOP House candidates.

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