Libertarian tech mogul commits $40M to counter socialist Democrats

FIRST ON FOX — A wealthy tech investor is committing $40 million to help Republicans stem the tide of the Democratic Socialists of America in state-level races, Fox News Digital has learned.

Scott Banister, a libertarian who was an early investor in PayPal, Uber and SpaceX, among others, cut the massive check to Make Liberty Win, a right-of-center political organization. The funding has already been partially deployed in nine states — Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire, West Virginia and Montana — with plans to expand the push to at least a dozen states.

“Self-described socialists are running for office and winning in the Democratic Party, like recently elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” a press release obtained by Fox News Digital reads. “Make Liberty Win’s campaign will stem the tide of the far-left by mobilizing student and youth activists to knock on the doors of more than two million voters in key states.”

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Banister’s cash injection comes at an opportune time for Republicans.

Though Republicans enjoy a comfortable advantage at the national level, the Republican State Leadership Committee, the official GOP committee responsible for making sure the party wins at the state level, projected in late August that Democrats are slated to outspend Republicans in state races by a factor of three to one. Make Liberty Win’s spending could mitigate the liberals’ cash advantage.

Democrats have previously disputed claims that their state apparatus is better funded than the GOP’s.

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Make Liberty Win is a Republican-aligned political organization with a distinctly libertarian bent, supporting a smaller federal government and returning power to state legislatures.

It focuses on door knocking and phone banking on behalf of candidates, rather than giving money to them directly.

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$40 million is a massive amount of money for any level of politics, especially state legislative races. For context, the average U.S. House candidate spent $1.8 million on a campaign in 2024 — and federal races are almost always more expensive than their state equivalents.

The eight-figure spending total represents the floor of what Make Liberty Win could spend on this initiative, as Banister or other donors motivated by his push could tap in to provide even more cash.

“Make Liberty Win will execute a comprehensive strategy to counter socialist Democrats and win at the state level, where political movements are built and every American can make a difference,” Make Liberty Win CEO Jeff Frazee said.