Billionaire-Backed GOP Group Launches $50 Million Campaign to Prevent Trump 2024

(The Epoch Times)—A Washington-based anti-Trump political group launched a $50 million election campaign on Tuesday to stop the former president from winning a second term, showcasing testimonials from former Trump supporters who do not plan on voting for him in 2024.

“The Republican Voters Against Trump campaign will target moderate Republican and Republican-leaning voters in key swing states with video testimonials of people sharing in their own words what caused them to break with Trump,” the Republican Accountability PAC said in a March 12 press release.

“Traditional Republican voters who have long supported the party but have concerns about Donald Trump proved decisive in the 2020 election. By targeting these voters and reaching them with credible messengers, the campaign will establish a permission structure for them to withhold their support from Trump again.”

Doing so will create an anti-Trump coalition that “holds the key” in the 2024 presidential election, the group said. In the 2020 race, the anti-Trump PAC ran a similar campaign that featured over 1,000 video testimonials. This time, the group will show over 100 testimonials.

The current campaign will feature one and two-time Trump voters who have decided not to support the former president due to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, the criminal cases against him totaling 91 felony counts, and other issues.

President Trump has pleaded not guilty to all four criminal indictments, and has repeatedly dismissed the charges as efforts by his political adversaries to jeopardize his 2024 presidential run.

Ethan, a Trump 2020 voter from Portage, Wisconsin, who is featured in the anti-Trump campaign, said in a testimonial: “I voted for Donald Trump in 2020. January 6 was the end of Donald Trump for me. The peaceful transfer of power is one of the defining pieces of our democracy, and I could not believe that someone I had formerly supported would get behind an effort that would throw that under the bus … There is no choice. Donald Trump is not a viable option. I will vote for Biden.”

President Trump has previously pointed out that he had urged people to be peaceful before, during, and after the Jan. 6 protests that took place at and around the U.S. Capitol, which Democrats have labeled an “insurrection.” Back in February 2021, President Trump was acquitted by the Senate of an insurrection incitement charge related to the events of Jan. 6.

The anti-Trump PAC intends to deploy ads on television, streaming, radio, billboards, and digital media, with the campaign running in six states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The group was founded by Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, a long-time critic of President Trump. It has the backing of multiple billionaires.

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn’s co-founder, gave $4 million to the organization last year, according to a Forbes analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. He has donated to Democrat causes. Seth Klarman, who manages the Baupost hedge fund, donated $1 million.

“Former Republicans and Republican-leaning voters hold the key to 2024, and reaching them with credible, relatable messengers is essential to re-creating the anti-Trump coalition that made the difference in 2020,” said Ms. Longwell.

“It establishes a permission structure that says that—whatever their complaints about Joe Biden—Donald Trump is too dangerous and too unhinged to ever be president again. Who better to make this case than the voters who used to support him?”

Support for Former President

The campaign against President Trump comes at a time when he is leading the polls against Democrat rival, President Joe Biden.

According to a March 11 update from Morning Consult, 44 percent of registered U.S. voters in a survey said they will support President Trump in the 2024 election, a one percentage point lead over President Biden.

Among Independents, President Trump again has a one percentage point lead. The former president was more popular with his party members than President Biden. While 89 percent of Republican voters said they would choose President Trump, only 85 percent of Democrat voters opted for President Biden.

Among President Trump’s 2020 voters, 90 percent said they would vote for him again. For President Biden, only 84 percent of his 2020 voters said they would support him this time.

Currently, President Trump has the backing of 1,078 delegates to become the presumptive GOP nominee for the 2024 election. He needs the backing of 137 more delegates to hit the 1,215 threshold, a target that could be achieved this month.

President Trump recently notched a massive win on Super Tuesday, winning 14 out of the 15 contests against former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Following the results, Ms. Haley dropped out of the Republican primary race. After his dominating win on Super Tuesday, Republican lawmakers rallied behind President Trump.

“The @GOP presidential primary is over. President Trump’s resounding Super Tuesday victories have solidified it. It is time to listen to our voters and unite the Republican Party,” Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Ohio GOP, said in a post on X following the GOP primary. “We must get on to the work of ending the disastrous presidency of Joe Biden.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) in a post on X praised the former president, saying that he has “made history running the strongest Republican primary campaign ever.” She called for voters to “rally around President Trump as our Republican nominee who will defeat Joe Biden this November to #SaveAmerica.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) called President Trump’s Super Tuesday win a “rout” and asked donors and political professionals to “unite behind our nominee.”

Last week, the former president challenged President Biden for a debate on key issues facing America, saying that he is willing to take part in such debates “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.”

“The debates can be run by the corrupt DNC, or their subsidiary, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD),” he said.

During the 2020 election cycle, President Trump and President Biden debated each other twic.

In a post on Truth Social on March 12, President Trump outlined his priorities once he reenters the White House: “My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!”