Billionaires Harold Simmons and Bob Perry, two of the biggest donors, died last year. | AP Photos GOP's money problem: Age

The Republican Party’s on the hunt ahead of 2016 for younger voters — and younger megadonors.

Conservative super PACs were dealt a blow in the past nine months, when two of their biggest benefactors died, Texas billionaires Harold Simmons and Bob Perry.


Combined, the two men, who were the second- and third-biggest donors behind the Adelsons in the 2012 elections, gave nearly $50 million last cycle — that’s more money than the next 10 Republican donors combined.

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The void the two leave behind represents an even bigger problem for the Republican Party: just as it struggles to attract younger voters, it also must win over younger elite donors.

Insiders fear that if it can’t, Republicans risk losing ground in the big money race to Democrats, who already rely on younger supporters to fuel their super PACs.

“People are obviously anxious to move on from the past,” said Kent Burton, who bundled money for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. “Of course, we want more young people involved. The party is for economic growth and opportunity for all. We believe that our party has more to offer the younger people — and even minorities — than the Democrats.”

Burton said he believes others will step up to help fill the void.

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“There are significant contributors who will be willing to step in. I think there will be resources to support the party and there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic,” Burton said.

Among the top 10 Republican donors of the 2012 election cycle, only one was under the age of 60 — Peter Thiel, who is 46 – and only three were under 70 – Miriam Adelson, 68; Robert Mercer, 67; and Robert Rowling, 60, according to public records. On the Democratic side, half of the top 10 donors were under 70 and three were under 60.

Other donors believe they haven’t yet done an adequate job in making the case to up-and-coming big political contributors.

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Shaun McCutcheon, another big GOP donor who is the plaintiff in the latest campaign finance Supreme Court case, said the money gap is an issue.

“It’s definitely something the party needs to be concerned about,” McCutcheon said. “It’s an ongoing effort that they are interested in more generally bringing more young people into the party. But most of the conversations I’ve had are just about getting young people more active in politics, not necessarily from a fundraising point of view. I think they’re still counting on more established Republicans to give in a big way. They don’t expect to get that much money from younger people.”

Still, McCutcheon conceded that “donors in both parties tend to be in the older group because it has to do with where you are in your careers. Major donors are going to be people who are further along in their careers and have been around for a while.”

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But the numbers aren’t insignificant.

Perry and Simmons had been in the giving game for years, kicking in nearly $115 million to Republican candidates, party committees and outside groups since the 1980 election cycle, according to CQ Moneyline. That only includes gifts to groups that must disclose their donors, so their true contributions could be much higher.

Simmons gave $25.8 million to federal candidates, party committees and super PACs during the 2012 election cycle. His wife gave another $1.3 million and his company, Contran Corp. gave $4 million to super PACs.

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson were the only donors on both sides of the aisle to make more disclosed contributions than Simmons and Perry. Together, Perry and Simmons gave nearly $50 million — about $36 million of which went to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads super PAC. The contributions of the next overall top 10 Republican donors in the 2012 elections totaled $48.5 million.

Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio did not respond to several requests for comment.

Donor age is also an issue.

Julianna Smoot, the top fundraiser for the Obama campaign who now advises major outside groups like Senate Majority PAC and Organizing for Action, said the dominance of older donors in the GOP in 2012 is related to the policies supported by the party.

“National Republicans are campaigning to take the country backward 20 years on health care, 40 years on reproductive choice, 60 years on civil rights, 80 years on bank reform, and 100 years on the gold standard,” she said. “That’s not really a message that resonates with the next generation.”

Veteran Republican donor Fred Malek said that although the GOP has made efforts to get younger people more involved, Perry and Simmons were part of a top-tier donor class and contributors like them are individually targeted, and not part of any broad effort to get donors more involved.

“You do that selectively,” he said. “You have discussions with them individually after you kind of get a sense of who is active and who has the potential to be active. I don’t think you necessarily focus on age.”

The effort to reach out to these top-tier donors is something Republicans are doing constantly and will continue to do so in the absence of Perry and Simmons, he said.

“These were very generous and committed men and they are going to be hard to replace, but there are others out there. We have a fair share of all age groups committed to our side,” Malek said.

And while several GOP fundraisers and donors said there is recognition that they need to find donors to fill the money gap, they said there’s time. Megadonors like Simmons and Perry play a much larger role in the quest for presidential dollars.

“I don’t think money is going to be a problem in 2014,” one GOP bundler said. “The question is going to be 2016 and how this thing shakes out.”

Similarly, individual donors have less of an impact at party committees like the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee because of federal contribution limits.

Some GOP donors argue that recruitment must be coupled with rethinking the party’s position on issues as it looks to attract younger donors. President Barack Obama garnered 60 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 in the 2012 presidential election while Romney attracted just 36 percent in that age group.

David Herro, a Chicago-based hedge fund manager, said the lack of top young GOP donors should be a concern and is rooted in the party’s problem in embracing issues younger Republicans care about. Herro gave more than $1 million in 2012 to GOP candidates and groups, such as American Crossroads, that are required to disclose donors.

“Though key issues for younger GOP donors are still economic freedom, governments role in the economy, strong foreign policy, undeniably, the old ’80s model of winning over Dixiecrats by hugging the Christian Right is outdated, and the GOP should be working harder at bringing its message of individual freedom to the young by embracing immigration reform, gay rights,” he said.

Herro added: “At this time, the GOP doesn’t seem to be aggressive enough at moving from the ’80s to 2014 but there are some signs of movement.”