Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon flew to Atlanta last week to huddle with Republican megadonor Bernie Marcus — and to hear him vent.

A Home Depot co-founder who's been one of the most prolific givers to Senate Republicans, Marcus fumed to Bannon for hours about the lack of return on his investment. In the past six months alone, Marcus has funneled $2 million to a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and tens of thousands more to the National Republican Senatorial Committee — only to watch the Senate fail again and again.


Over the past several weeks, Bannon has crisscrossed the country meeting with dozens of the party’s biggest contributors — all in the hopes of capitalizing on their anger at McConnell. The populist bomb-thrower wants donors to bankroll primary challenges against Republican incumbents, or, short of that, to close their wallets to McConnell-aligned causes.

Bannon has gone to New York City to talk with venture capitalist John Childs, who plowed nearly $400,000 into McConnell’s 2014 reelection. In Colorado, he huddled with Gore-Tex heiress Susan Gore, a major backer of libertarian causes. And Bannon met with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the GOP’s most prominent donor, for several hours when he swung through Washington this month.

While in Arizona this week, Bannon met with investor Eric Crown, a longtime backer of Senate GOP causes.

How many Republican givers will sign on with Bannon is an open question; people close to him declined to say whether he had financial commitments. Ideologically and temperamentally, the pugilistic head of Breitbart News isn't exactly a natural fit with the traditional Republican moneyed set. There is also concern in the donor world that having Bannon-aligned outsiders in the Senate Republican Conference would make it harder, not easier, to reach consensus on legislation.

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But Marcus is thinking about joining Bannon. An adviser, Steve Hantler, said the billionaire intends to give his party until the end of the year to pass legislation and then would weigh his options.

“Like many donors, if the gridlock continues in Washington, Mr. Marcus will consider new approaches to breaking the gridlock, including those proposed by Steve Bannon and others,” he said.

Asked whether Marcus is open to funding primary challenges to Republican incumbents, Hantler responded: “You will have to draw your own conclusion.”

Bannon’s offensive will intensify on Wednesday, when he will outline his plans for the 2018 midterms to a group of major donors in New York City. Also attending will be conservative megadonor Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, close Bannon allies who are expected to be the primary funders of his national anti-incumbent campaign.

The former White House strategist views the donor push as the opening front in his effort. Bannon has described it as a means of isolating the Republican leader and depriving him of the resources he needs to protect incumbents in next year’s primaries.

“Yeah, Mitch, the donors — the donors aren’t happy,” Bannon said at last weekend’s Values Voter Summit. “They’ve all left you. We’ve cut your oxygen off, Mitch, OK? Money is not courageous, but money is smart, OK?”

There is serious skepticism at the highest levels of the party apparatus that Bannon's donor initiative will succeed. Some contributors who’ve met with him say the outreach is still in its nascent stage. Others have reacted coolly to the idea, reluctant to go after lawmakers just as the tax reform fight is about to begin. Adelson has told people close to him that he’s not interested in funding primary challengers, though Bannon didn't ask him for money during their meeting.

Still, Bannon is working aggressively to convert some of the GOP’s most generous givers. He's spoken with Scott Bessent, a New York City investor who has cut checks to a half-dozen Senate GOP incumbents, and with Ed Bosarge, a Houston-based finance executive who contributed $150,000 to McConnell’s reelection.

Bannon has also talked with Wyoming investor Foster Friess, a Republican megadonor who has given tens of thousands to Senate Republicans over the years. Friess has grown so displeased that he’s exploring a possible primary challenge to Republican Sen. John Barrasso, a Bannon target.

In the last six months alone, Bernie Marcus has funneled $2 million to a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and tens of thousands more to the National Republican Senatorial Committee — only to watch the Senate fail again and again. | Barry Williams/Getty Images

In Washington earlier this month, Bannon met with Dan Eberhart, an energy executive who was in town for a Republican National Committee donor conference. During the sit-down, Bannon detailed his plans for targeting GOP lawmakers and stressed that he was focused on recruiting challengers who would oppose McConnell. He also asked Eberhart who he should be reaching out to.

Eberhart, a past NRSC contributor who has decided to stop giving to the party, has since spoken with Bannon twice by phone. In recent days, Eberhart said he’s been contacted by McConnell allies to discuss his concerns.

"I'm extremely frustrated with that whole complex," he said. "I feel like they're asking us to reward failure."

The party establishment is racing to lock down financial support. On Thursday evening, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host a fundraising reception and dinner for Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, just two days after Bannon attends a donor event for his primary opponent, Kelli Ward. McConnell, meanwhile, has reached out to Adelson in the past month to gauge his interest in giving to Senate Republicans.

Senior Republicans are also trying to assure givers they hear their frustrations. The NRSC, which has seen its fundraising plummet in recent months, held a retreat in Sea Island, Georgia, over the weekend that drew about 300 lobbyists and bundlers.

Tax reform was front-and-center at a breakfast panel discussion that included Georgia Sen. David Perdue, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner. As the audience piled their plates with eggs and bacon, the senators acknowledged in blunt terms that the political consequences would be dire for Republicans if they don't pass tax legislation, according to two people present.

Bannon declared at a gathering of evangelicals last week that "money doesn't matter anymore" for Republican incumbents trying to fend off insurgent challengers. The message was this: Huge war chests can no longer save incumbents against underfunded outsider candidates with fervid grass-roots support.

But given his activity, Bannon believes his candidates will need some money to take out incumbents.

While Bannon is orchestrating much of the anti-establishment campaign on his own, he has also gotten a boost from the White House. Earlier this month, Nick Ayers, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence and a veteran GOP strategist, told a group of Republican National Committee donors they should withhold their financial support to incumbents and instead give to primary challengers if Congress fails to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The message was warmly received by many of the influential donors in the room, including Louis DeJoy. The North Carolina business executive, who has given over $30,000 to the NRSC this year, said he isn’t interested in bankrolling GOP challengers.

But he and other donors are fed up with the failures of the Republican Congress.

"I raise money, and I hear the frustration from everybody," DeJoy said. "Everybody knows the money is drying up."

