This donor organization founded by JD Vance has big plans and a million dollar budget to go along with it

Before JD Vance began his rapid rise to vice president, he founded a Silicon Valley-backed donor organization to fund right-wing issues, voter activities and election polls aimed at spreading US President Donald Trump’s brand of nationalism, according to previously unreported documents from the group.

Founded in 2019, Rockbridge Network seeks to influence US politics through a centrally controlled network of right-wing political parties backed by some of the same deep tech investors who aided Vance’s political rise.

The existence of a Rockbridge and Vance link to it has been previously reported. But three internal Rockbridge documents reviewed by Reuters and a dozen sources familiar with the group reveal the extent of its ambitions, its estimated $75 million budget for 2024 and its role in seeking to influence November’s presidential election.

Rockbridge points out that Trump’s selection of Vance as his running mate could energize a new set of Republican entrepreneurs: heavyweight tech investors who favor far-reaching deregulation. Many want to weaken the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates Wall Street, and reduce oversight of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.

Their financial support for Rockridge reflects Silicon Valley’s growing influence in conservative politics and marks a shift from deep-pocketed Republican activists, whose political networks have lost influence since Trump took office.

Rockbridge oversees five political parties and one PAC that focuses on funding right-wing investigations, write-in ballots, converting voters in war-torn districts and mobilizing churchgoers to fight the political struggle, according to a seven-page document Rockbridge provided to donors before the April withdrawal. . Palm Beach, Florida. Super PACs – short for political action committees – can use unlimited funds to independently campaign for candidates.

Vance, identified in the prospectus as the founder of Rockbridge, does not appear to maintain an official relationship with the group. He maintains an informal relationship with it, however, and spoke to more than 100 of its members and sponsors who gathered at its biannual conference in April, according to attendees and a memo detailing the event schedule.

Vance’s longtime partner, Republican businessman Chris Buskirk, is another founder of Rockbridge. Rockbridge Networks donor outreach is operated by Rockbridge Network LLC, a Delaware for-profit company that helps manage donations for the network’s political parties. Its owners are not identified in corporate records.

Two Rockbridge officials, who handle donor communications and donations, are also members of Vance’s current fundraising team, according to two internal documents and a campaign official. Many of Rockbridge’s donors supported Vance politically.

A spokeswoman for Vance declined to comment on Rockbridge. The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about the network’s role and its links to at least two campaign staffers.

Vance’s rough, unstable upbringing in Ohio led to his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and the Trump campaign hopes his story will resonate with working-class voters. “We need a leader who is not in the pocket of big business, but answers to the working person, the union and the unions alike,” Vance said in his July 17 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. His resume includes a degree from Yale Law School and a lucrative career as a venture capitalist in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Rockbridge network he co-founded draws heavily from the technology and investment world. Dozens of high-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalists and crypto investors have backed Trump. Conservatives in the tech industry have said they are concerned about the Biden administration’s crackdown on crypto and a cautious approach to artificial intelligence.

Rockbridge has not disclosed its financial backers and is not required to disclose them under campaign finance laws.

But according to two sources with knowledge of Rockbridge, it includes Peter Thiel, the German-born billionaire who poured millions into Vance’s 2022 Senate race. Its members include venture capitalist Blake Masters, a Thiel protégé and former candidate for US Congress in Arizona, and investor Omeed Malik, a former Democrat who now backs friendly companies, the sources said. Right-wing activist and heiress Rebekah Mercer, a major Trump donor, is also a supporter.

Spokesmen for Thiel and Mercer did not respond to requests for comment. Masters did not respond to requests for comment.

Since being named Trump’s running mate last month, Vance has held rallies in battleground states and fundraisers, including one in Silicon Valley. His debut has been shaky at times, especially due to his 2021 comment about “cat girls who don’t have kids,” a jab seen as misogynistic and discriminatory against people who don’t have kids.

Hiring church people, investing in the media

Reuters reviewed two documents distributed to patrons attending Rockbridge’s April retreat in Palm Beach. The five-page memo outlines the agenda for the three-day meeting. A separate seven-page prospectus describes Rockbridge’s political vision and projects. Reuters also obtained an invitation sent to sponsors at a private dinner in Dallas last month to discuss Rockbridge. All three documents are labeled “confidential.”

The prominence of guest speakers at the Palm Beach gathering underscored Rockbridge’s influence. Trump himself spoke via video from New York, where he was on trial in his hush money case at the time. Trump campaign chairwoman Susie Wiles made the presentation during a segment titled “Conquering the White House.” Powerful lawmaker Leonard Leo and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, a Trump donor, also spoke, according to the memo.

Leo did not respond to questions sent to him from the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group he leads. Johnson did not respond to questions sent to him about the New York Jets.

Rockbridge, according to the documents, consists of a collection of small groups, none of which appear to have their own websites or much of a public footprint. It has 150 to 200 members and a 2024 budget of between $70 million and $80 million, said a source familiar with the group. Membership fees range from $100,000 to $1 million, according to the Rockbridge prospectus.

Two Rockbridge groups — Virginia-based Better Tomorrow and Washington-based Over the Horizon — are focused on getting out the vote, according to documents. They are helping Trump and Vance in seven swing states, a source familiar with the party said. The two groups, as well as the newly formed PAC led by Buskirk that was first revealed by The New York Times, will have a total of about 5,000 people in the field who want to call people who are interested, the source said.

Another Rockbridge group, Faithful in Action, has more than 160,000 members, according to the prospectus. Its purpose is to persuade religious people to work for politics, says the prospectus. It was incorporated in 2023 in Wyoming, and state records show Buskirk as its president. Reuters could not independently verify its size or current operations.

Rockbridge’s efforts to influence journalism are led by Firebrand Action, which was incorporated in Virginia in 2022. State records list Firebrand’s president as Buskirk and his secretary as James Blair, a member of Trump’s campaign staff and former deputy chief of staff to Florida Governor Ron Desantis. Blair resigned from Firebrand in the spring before joining the Trump campaign, a source familiar with his role said.

Rockbridge’s financial report is “published by relevant media,” the prospectus said. Reuters was unable to identify any articles or media outlets supported by the group. Firebrand and Revitalization Partners, the charity’s investment account, are both listed in the prospectus as supporting “investigative journalism” and public polls included in RealClearPolitics and thirty-eight polls of political races. The document did not name the voters involved.

RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight did not respond to requests for comment.

Rockbridge also served as an incubator for new jobs. At the 2022 Rockbridge conference, Buskirk, investor Malik, hedge fund heiress Mercer and a candidate for Arizona Congress Masters began discussing how to fund a “shared economy” of environmental businesses, one attendee said. That will ultimately be 1789 Capital, a $150 million Palm Beach-based venture capital firm owned by Buskirk, Malik and Mercer, the source said.

Last year, 1789 Capital announced its first investment: $15 million in Tucker Carlson’s newly formed television company “Last Country Inc.”

In April, at a “fireside discussion” with more than 100 Rockbridge donors at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, Vance sat across from Buskirk in a chair, according to attendees and a memo detailing the agenda. The source said Vance’s speech went over his key policy planks: reluctance to confront Russia in Ukraine; false claims that Trump won the 2020 election; and emphasizing what Vance saw as the value of the family such as the importance of marriage and children.

Vance and Buskirk were introduced to each other by Thiel and began meeting in San Francisco following Trump’s 2016 election victory, according to a source familiar with Rockbridge. At the time, Vance was working for Thiel’s company, Mithril Capital. Vance and Buskirk launched Rockbridge in 2019 as an informal network to “replace the current Republican ecosystem,” the prospectus said.

Vance’s ascension to the presidential ticket has attracted donor interest in Rockbridge, two sources familiar with the party said.

On July 25, 10 days after Vance was elected, an invitation went out to several Republican donors for a “private dinner and discussion on the Rockbridge Network” in Dallas, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.

— Alexandra Ulmer and Aram Roston, for Reuters