David McCormick, the former chief executive of hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates who is running for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, has the backing of some of Wall Street’s biggest names.
Stephen Schwarzman and Ken Griffin are among those hosting a fundraiser in March for Mr. McCormick at Paul Tudor Jones’s home in Palm Beach, Fla., according to an invitation viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Co-hosts include Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president and economic counselor to President Donald Trump ; hedge-fund billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller ; Bob Steel, a longtime banking executive and former Treasury Department official; and Bill Ford, the chief of investment firm General Atlantic.
Even as his early ads highlighted his military service, deer-hunting skills and family’s Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, Mr. McCormick is widely expected to tap his financial-industry network for support and contributions. And he offers the sort of Republicanism—pro-business, low-taxes, but wary of former President Donald Trump’s hold over the party—that tends to appeal to many on Wall Street.
Mr. Griffin runs a giant hedge fund of his own, Citadel LLC, and Mr. Schwarzman is the chief executive of private-equity firm Blackstone Inc. Both have been active in Republican politics and causes. Mr. Griffin, who in 1999 told an interviewer that the superrich have too little influence in politics, has donated tens of millions of dollars to Republican candidates and causes.
Mr. Schwarzman was Wall Street’s biggest campaign donor in 2020, according to Reuters. He chaired Mr. Trump’s policy council of business executives and stood by the president long after other CEOs backed away.
Mr. McCormick only formally got into the race last week and hasn’t yet had to file contributor rolls with regulators.
A former Treasury Department official under President George W. Bush, Mr. McCormick spent a decade at Bridgewater, the world’s biggest hedge fund, before resigning last week to try his hand at politics. He faces television doctor Mehmet Oz, among other candidates.
Mr. McCormick, whose has lived for years in Connecticut, where Bridgewater is based, will need to establish his Pennsylvania bona fides—as will Mr. Oz, a longtime New Jersey resident.
Among the Pennsylvania backers who are co-hosting the fundraiser are Christine Toretti, a Republican National Committee representative from the state and a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team.
Write to Liz Hoffman at [email protected]
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