According to people familiar with the situation, Peter Thiel is signaling to allies that he is mostly done helping Ohio Senate candidate J.D.
According to those who attended the gathering and heard his comments, Thiel told guests at a recent Masters fundraising event that he believes Vance is on track to win his Senate race against Tim Ryan. The donor hosted the event at his house.
One of the people familiar with the conversations with attendees said that Peter said that the Ohio Senate race was over. Ohio is a swing state where Republicans have enjoyed increased success in recent years.
This person explained to the crowd at the event that the only thing they needed to do was get over the finish line.
People for Masters did not reply to questions.
The control of the Senate will be decided by the races in Arizona and Ohio. The Democrats hold a majority in the Senate.
Republicans would gain control of the Senate if they flipped the Arizona seat or defended the Ohio seat. The Ohio Senate race is marked as a Lean Republican by the Cook Political Report.
Candidates and their allies have poured money into ads ahead of the election. The Arizona Senate race has cost campaigns and independent groups over 120 million dollars, while the Ohio contest has cost over 100 million dollars.
The guests were not told whether or not he planned to give more money to the pro- Masters super PAC. With just over a month until Election Day, he could still deploy more cash in the Arizona Senate race if he wanted to.
It shows that Arizona could play a bigger role in determining Senate control.
According to those familiar with Thiel's conversations, he told attendees at the Masters event that he doesn't need to raise as much money because most polls show him leading Ryan. According to a RealClearPolitics polling average, Ryan is trailing by more than 1percentage point. According to the nonpartisan Open Secrets, Ryan has raised over $21 million.
According to these people, Masters trails Kelly in many public polls, and needs a massive cash injection to keep up with the incumbent's money machine. According to Open Secrets, Kelly has raised more than $50 million, while Masters has taken in less than $4 million.
Outside political action committees have stepped in to fill the gap in Republican Senate campaign finances. Saving Arizona put up a 1.5 million dollar tv ad buy to support its preferred candidate.
The Masters campaign is placing new TV ad spending after being off the air for over a month.
Kelly leads Masters by at least four percentage points according to recent polls.
Federal Election Commission records show that Thiel gave $30 million to support the GOP primary campaigns of Masters and Vance. He hasn't donated to either of the political action committees.
The two Senate candidates worked with Thiel before they started. At Mithril Capital, Masters was chief operating officer, and at Thiel Capital, he was chief operating officer.
According to organizers, at least 40 people attended the event at Thiel's home, and nearly a dozen others contributed to Masters' campaign but could not make it to the gathering. The event could have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the campaign with individual tickets starting at just over a thousand dollars.
The event co-host and businessman Tom Sauer posted pictures of the event on his social media accounts. Longtime hedge fund manager Michael Wang and Joshua Steinman were listed as co-hosting the event.
A person who saw Julie Luckey at the event said she was Palmer Luckey's mother. Julie Luckey is listed as a major donor.
Palmer Luckey founded Anduril. The firm has been financed before by the fund.
According to the records, Julie Luckey has been a key financier for Republican campaigns for years. She donated to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee in the past.
Julie Luckey didn't respond to the call.
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