MONEY TALKS

Peter Thiel, Mercer Family Financing J.D. Vance’s Potential Senate Run

Thiel, the founder of Palantir, and the family money behind Cambridge Analytica are throwing their weight behind the “Hillbilly Elegy” author in Ohio.

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel and the family of hedge fund manager Robert Mercer have donated millions of dollars to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC formed in February to support Hillbilly Elegy author and money manager J.D. Vance in a possible run for U.S. Senate, according to a spokesperson cited by Forbes. Bryan Lanza, an adviser to the PAC, told the outlet that Thiel, who was a vocal Trump fan until the former president's bungling of the government’s coronavirus response, made a $10 million donation to the group. The Mercers, who have links to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, donated a “significant” amount, said Lanza, who declined to offer a specific dollar figure. Vance, who has not yet officially announced that he is running, would be vying for the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman.