"We're Really, Deeply in Trouble": Top Donor Shuns Florida Republicans Over Their Stance on Guns

“We’re Really, Deeply in Trouble”: Top Donor Shuns Florida Republicans Over Their Stance on Guns
He’s devoting his time, money, and energy to banning assault weapons instead.
Kara Voght
October 10, 2018 6:00 AM


Few Republicans have succeeded in their quest for statewide or federal office in Florida without Al Hoffman Jr.’s help. The self-made real estate magnate has invested millions of dollars in the GOP over the last half century, and he’s attracted millions more as the finance chairman for the Republican National Committee and the campaigns of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, former President George W. Bush. “I’m a conservative Republican, always have been and always will be,” he explains.

Such loyal hustle has its rewards: In 2000, Republicans chose Hoffman to cast the historic and decisive electoral vote for President Bush after the Supreme Court halted the state’s ballot recount. Bush later appointed him ambassador to Portugal—a post typically reserved for high-profile donors—during his second term. At the end of the Bush administration, Hoffman returned to Republican fundraising as chair of Marco Rubio’s 2010 Senate campaign, helping the candidate rake in over $21 million in his first run for federal office.

But during the 2018 midterms, 84-year-old Hoffman is holding onto most of his cash. After the February school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Hoffman vowed not to give any money to candidates who don’t support an assault weapons ban—something for which only a handful of lawmakers in Hoffman’s party have voiced support. (Since the shooting, Hoffman has only donated to Florida Republican congressmen Brian Mast and Carlos Curbelo, both of whom have voiced support for Hoffman’s position.)

His decision was uniquely personal: Hoffman had been the lead developer of the Parkland area, and his constant presence at the town’s zoning meetings fostered a close bond between him and its residents. (Hoffman had even attended the Stoneman Douglas’ groundbreaking and dedication.) As he watched the tragedy unfold on TV from his office at his North Palm Beach home, Hoffman thought of his two teenage children safe in their classrooms at a high school just 40 miles from Parkland. “But for the grace of God, it could have been my kids,” he said.

After announcing his own pledge to half a dozen prominent Republicans—including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the state’s current leader and Senate candidate Rick Scott—via email, Hoffman recruited nearly two dozen like-minded GOP kingmakers from across the country, including fellow former RNC finance chairs Mel Sembler and Howard Leach, to take a similar stance. They created Americans for Gun Safety Now!, which advances a six-point platform that also includes establishing universal background checks and raising the gun purchasing minimum age to 21. (Its members have adhered to their campaign funding promise with varying degrees of success.)

Now, Hoffman aims to extend his influence even farther: His group has teamed up with Ban Assault Weapons Now, a group with a similar mission led by Parkland Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat, to establish a state constitutional amendment that will ban assault weapons in Florida by way of a 2020 ballot measure. If successful, Hoffman wants to go state by state to achieve the same ends—an approach that national gun safety groups have also taken in the face of congressional inaction on the issue.

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/al-hoffman-gop-megadonor-is-skipping-floridas-marquee-races-over-gun-control/