Rich White Guys: See How They Run

Affluent GOP Senate candidates are trying to poach May primaries in West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana with their own money.

By David Catanese Senior Politics Writer April 27, 2018, at 6:00 a.m.

THEY MATERIALIZE EACH campaign cycle, offering the freshness of an outsider, the temerity of an entrepreneur and the fortune of a millionaire.

They're rich, novice candidates attempting to crash the gates of Washington by the force of their personal checkbooks. In most cases, they're aging white guys who after earning success in the private sector have found the need to scratch one last itch of ambition in an effort to forestall the dullness of retirement. Usually, they're Republicans.

A batch of such U.S. Senate candidates is taking their aim at GOP primaries on the first Tuesday in May. The current occupant of the Oval Office aside, history shows great personal affluence often doesn't yield political success.

Linda McMahon twice invested nearly $50 million toward a Senate seat in Connecticut and failed both times. David Dewhurst's $19 million contribution in Texas couldn't topple Ted Cruz in 2012. Mark Jacobs devoted $4 million to an open Senate seat in Iowa in 2014, only to fall to Joni Ernst.

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