Obama And Hillary Influence The GOP Primary

In Wyoming’s Republican primary, many of the Democratic political elites are supporting Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) over Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman.

The American donor class has noticed Cheney’s declining prospects of keeping her seat on August 16, according to polling. According to reports, the primary is just around the corner, and Hageman has taken a significant lead among donors. The prospect of losing through a chain of political mistakes has prompted establishment contributors to emerge from hiding in order to protect one of their own.

Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, a prominent Democratic donor who has funded Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama  presidential bids, has given at least $43,000 to Cheney. For unknown reasons, the whole amount has not been revealed.

“We don’t agree on much if anything,” said Katzenberg in the New York Times interview. “But she has done something that few people have ever done: put her country above party and politics to defend our Constitution.”

A strategist who advises liberal LinkedIn co-founder and DNC donor Reid Hoffman, Dmitri Mehlhorn, is also throwing his support behind Cheney’s reelection campaign. “Right now, Cheney is the most important person in America,” Mehlhorn said in an interview with The New York Times.

Google executive Vint Cerf, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, and Boston-based billionaire hedge funder Seth Klarman are also major Democratic contributors.

“I am firmly in favor of Congresswoman Cheney’s re-election bid,” Klarman said. “I’m determined to do everything I can to keep her in office and send a strong message to the most conservative elements of the GOP. We need to back Liz up and send a severe punishment to the most radical factions in the GOP.”

According to the Times, a prominent Democrat supporter and friend of Cheney, Cerf gave the candidate $2,900 as “more of a show of appreciation than anything.”

“I was impressed by what Liz Cheney did, which was very brave in the face of great pressure from her own party to stand against them and state ‘No, this is wrong,’” Cerf continued.

The Wyoming primary has caught the attention of Democratic donors since Cheney’s campaign began seeking Democratic support last month. According to May and June polling data, Cheney was losing to Hageman by 28 and 30 points. In an article that is entitled “Why Liz Cheney Is in Trouble in Wyoming,” CNN cited the poll results as worrisome.