GOP megadonor Mercers distance themselves from Trump for 2024

GOP megadonors Robert and Rebekah Mercer have no current plans to help former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for the White House, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Mercers, a father and daughter who were one of Trump’s major benefactors during his first run for president in 2016, are distancing themselves from the ex-president’s third White House bid and cutting back their overall campaign fundraising, these people said. The people who spoke to CNBC did so on the condition of anonymity to talk about private conversations.

The two Republican financiers join a list of party donors who are not planning to back Trump’s latest bid for president, which he launched on Tuesday night.

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, wealthy New York businessman Andy Sabin and billionaire Ronald Lauder are among the wealthy GOP donors opting against helping Trump’s latest campaign — at least during the Republican primary. Some of the country’s wealthiest GOP donors do not believe Trump can win again, and have argued for a new face to represent their party in the race for president.

Public polls have showed a similar appetite among Republican voters for a new candidate. In a YouGov poll taken after the Nov. 8 midterm elections, 41% of those surveyed who said they were Republican preferred Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the GOP nominee for president in 2024, compared with 39% who chose Trump. A Politico/Morning Consult poll showed 47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents would support Trump. The same poll found 33% would support DeSantis.

A growing contingent of financiers is also convinced Trump bears the blame for key Republican losses up and down the ballot during the 2022 midterm elections. The disappointments include the failure to win a majority in the Senate after Trump-backed candidates lost a handful of swing-state races that determined control of the chamber. Republicans ended up taking control of the House, but only by a slim margin.

Robert Mercer wrote a $355,200 check during Trump’s failed 2020 presidential bid to a joint fundraising committee that helped both the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, records show. He gave two checks for $2,800 — the maximum allowed — to the former president’s campaign during the cycle, as one came during the primary and the other in the general election.

Rebekah Mercer gave nothing to any pro-Trump group or Trump campaign entity during his last run for president, according to the filings.

Representatives for both Robert and Rebekah…