The financial woes Donald Trump has caused for Republicans in the 2016 presidential cycle don’t stop with his paltry fundraising.
Corporate sponsors have backed out of the Cleveland convention, leaving the organizers scrambling to ask prominent conservative donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson to help fill their budget gap, according to a letter obtained by Politico.
Companies have reneged on $8.1 million in total, according to the letter from the convention’s organizers. They acknowledge that Trump is at least partially to blame.
“Over the past couple months, negative publicity around our potential nominee resulted in a considerable number of pledges backing out from their commitments,” the letter reads, according to Politico.
The letter came from the David Gilbert, CEO of the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, and the committee’s members. The committee includes Christopher Connor, the executive chairman of the Sherwin-Williams Co., Alexander Cutler, the retired CEO the Eaton Corporation, Christopher Kelly, a partner at the Jones Day law firm, and Beth Mooney, the CEO of KeyCorp.
Quite a few companies that sponsored the 2012 Republican convention, like Wells Fargo & Co. and UPS, have opted out this year. According to the letter, David Koch, as well as companies including FedEx and Visa backed out of promised donations (though Visa told Politico that it never made a pledge to the convention.)
The RNC has raised $58 million so far, $6 million short of its $64 million goal, according to the letter. And so the convention’s organizers asked the Adelsons to contribute $6 million to close the funding gap.
“Your support will allow our community to meet its obligation to the RNC, and will ensure our Republican nominee has the best possible platform to lay out his conservative case for our nation,” the letter reads, according to Politico.
Sheldon Adelson has previously expressed support for Trump, and may contribute up to $100 million to help Trump win the presidency, according to a New York Times report from May.
