Peter Thiel's political hiatus is over. Here's where his money's flowing now.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
- Peter Thiel backed away from political spending after the 2022 midterms.
- Now, he's getting back into it, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into GOP campaigns.
- He recently described himself as "schizophrenic" when it comes to political giving.
Peter Thiel's vacation from politics is over.
The conservative tech billionaire made his first publicly disclosed political contribution in two and a half years in February, giving $852,200 to House Speaker Mike Johnson's joint fundraising committee.
That group, called "Grow the Majority," then distributed almost 90% of that money to other campaigns.
All told, Thiel's money has now made its way into the coffers of the Republican National Committee, House Republicans' main campaign arm, over a dozen state parties, and nearly 30 GOP House members.
It's a significant shift for Thiel. After spending tens of millions of dollars to support Blake Masters and now-Vice President JD Vance during the 2022 midterms, the PayPal and Palantir cofounder came away from the experience apparently disillusioned with politics.
In 2024, he even gave an interview to The Atlantic in part to lock himself into not donating to any candidate that year.
"By talking to you, it makes it hard for me to change my mind," he told the interviewer. "My husband doesn't want me to give them any more money, and he's right."
Vance even publicly urged Thiel to "get off the sidelines" and spend money to back Trump in the 2024 race, but no public donations ever emerged, despite his past financial support for Trump.
Thiel also said last year that he would support Trump, and he predicted that the election wouldn't be close. "I've decided not to donate any money politically, but I'm supporting them in every other way possible," he said at the time.
A spokesperson for Thiel did not respond to a request for comment about why the tech billionaire changed his mind.
During a recent interview with The New York Times' Ross Douthat, Thiel said that he was "schizophrenic" about political giving.
"I think it's incredibly important, and it's incredibly toxic," Thiel said. "So I go back and forth."
Here's where Thiel's money went:
- $310,100 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, the main campaign arm for House Republicans;
- $54,600 to the Republican National Committee;
- $10,000 apiece to GOP state parties in 14 states, including Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin;
- $7,000 apiece to 29 House Republicans, most of whom represent competitive districts;
- $7,000 apiece to committees set up for the eventual GOP nominee in 12 other competitive House districts.