Wall Street Biggies Start Placing 2024 GOP Primary Bets, And The Money Isn’t on Trump

Top Wall Street executives are starting to make financial bets on some of Donald Trump's rivals in the 2024 Republican primary.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former hedge fund executive, are the biggest beneficiaries of the Street's largess, followed by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, NBC News reported Sunday, citing Federal Elections Commission filings.

In the 2020 presidential campaign, Wall Street executives gave more than three times as much money to Trump than to Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to NBC News.

Polls show Trump with a sizable lead among the current Republican primary field, with DeSantis a distant second. According to a Morning Consult poll 56% of potential GOP primary voters support the former president.

Trump's primary rivals have staked conservative positions on culture-war issues that mirror those of the former commander-in-chief.

Trump's campaign, however, is hounded by accusations that he sought to subvert the will of voters by overturning the 2020 presidential election and knowingly kept classified documents in his Mar-A-Lago home.

Three of Trump's most prominent opponents saw a bump in contributions between April 1 and June 30, FEC filings show.

DeSantis contributors include hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, who donated $6,600 and $3,300, respectively.

Jones is a prolific philanthropist, having bankrolled college scholarships intended for low-income high school students. Lonsdale is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, where he often stakes out conservative positions.

Goldman Sachs Vice President Justin Siegel also gave DeSantis $3,300, filings show, and at least a dozen other finance leaders contributed $6,600 to $3,300. The DeSantis campaign raised $20 million in the second quarter.

The Florida governor has built his campaign thus far on the right-wing battle against the so-called "woke" liberal/progressive agenda. A battle with Disney over culture-war issues and a law barring teachers from discussing sexual orientation with students are among the highlights of his second term as governor.

Among the Wall Street contributors to Ramaswamy's campaign are hedge fund power Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital, who donated $3,300. Evercore ISI Chairman Ed Hyman is another Ramaswany contributor, with a $3,300 donation.

Ramaswamy, who has taken Wall Street firms to task for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment strategies, raised $7 million in the second quarter. The candidate's campaign is largely self-funded, NBC news reported.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper and AQR Capital Management co-founder Cliff Asness are among the financiers who donated the maximum $6,600 to former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Haley, whose campaign focuses on securing the border and fiscal responsibility, raised $5 million in the second quarter.

Even without help from Wall Street, former president Trump raised around $17 million in the second quarter, filings show.