Paul Singer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican mega-donor from New York, is about to be named as the national finance chairman for Marco Rubio’s campaign, according to the New York Post.
Singer’s new gig is a sign, says Politico’s Mike Allen, of ”the GOP’s Wall Street establishment coalescing (a little late, guys) around Rubio’s bid to derail Trump’s march to the nomination.”
But the move could be risky for Rubio, since Singer is a high-profile supporter of marriage equality, which is anathema to many Republican primary voters.
Singer, who has a gay son, is part of a group of conservative Wall Street hedge fund managers who are vocal supporters of gay rights. In 2011, Singer and other donors urged Republican state senators in New York to support the passage of same-sex marriage legislation, raising vast sums money for their re-election. In 2012, he launched the American Unity super PAC for pro-gay rights Republican donors, and in 2013, the adjacent American Unity Fund, an advocacy and lobbying non-profit. The group aimed to spend $40 million this election cycle. “The Republican Party can be more of a big tent and this issue is part of that,” Singer told the New York Times in 2013.
Singer is reportedly worth upwards of $1.9 billion, and he scored a major non-politics victory yesterday (Feb. 29) when he prevailed in a 15-year legal battle. Singer’s Elliott Management and several other creditors managed to secure $4.65 billion from the Argentine government following its massive sovereign debt default.
He initially threw his support behind Rubio in Oct. 2015, and has since become one of the campaign’s top donors. He has also worked tirelessly to rally his network of wealthy associates to the Rubio cause. In a letter circulated to dozens of high-income Republican donors in October, he described Rubio as the only candidate who can “navigate this complex primary process, and still be in a position to defeat [Hillary Clinton].”
Neither the Rubio campaign nor Singer have confirmed the appointment as of yet. According to the New York Post, a source close to Singer said that the rumors are “not accurate.”