Dathan Voelter isn’t a well-known name among Republican political operatives. But Voelter, an Austin-based attorney at Freescale Semiconductor, is the only person publicly associated with the cluster of four super PACs that he says is about to raise $31 million to support Ted Cruz’s presidential candidacy. The PACs can raise unlimited sums, and do not have to disclose their donors, so Voelter is the front man for the billionaires putting their money behind Cruz.
Well, except for one family: Robert Mercer and wife Diana and their daughter, Rebekah. Securing the backing of the Mercers is huge for Cruz: Robert Mercer alone was the fourth largest individual donor in the 2014 cycle, according to Open Secrets. Over the past six years, Mercer, the CEO of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, has poured $37 million into various political causes. A Bloomberg profile published in October called him “the man who out-Koched the Kochs.” Rebekah Mercer, who owns the upscale New York City bakery Ruby et Violette and who runs the $37 million Mercer Family Foundation, will also play a key role in the political giving.
Each of the four PACs, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, represent a particular donor or donor family, and the Mercers control one.
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