Billionaire Republican donor Ken Langone made the maximum allowable donation to Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) PAC weeks after Manchin announced that he would oppose President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.
Langone and his wife, Elaine Langone, each made $5,000 contributions to Manchin’s Country Roads leadership PAC on Dec. 31, reaching the benchmark for the most an individual is allowed to donate to a PAC of this kind in a single year.
Langone sent the donations to Manchin less than two weeks after the senator told Fox News he would not support Biden’s $1.75 trillion climate and social spending bill.
This was the first time Langone donated to Manchin’s campaign or leadership PAC, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics as reported by CNBC.
Langone told CNBC in November that he plans to host a large fundraising event for Manchin, who is up for reelection in 2024.
“Thank God for Joe Manchin,” Langone said at the time during an appearance on the network. “He’s special. He’s precious. He’s a great American.”
Manchin’s leadership PAC received more than $150,000 in December donations, according to CNBC.
Langone supported former President Trump’s 2016 campaign, but has since criticized Trump for insisting the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., included “very fine people” in 2017 and for his conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection, during which Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election.
Langone also recently donated to the Senate Leadership Fund, a top Republican super PAC, and Americans for Prosperity Action, a conservative advocacy group backed by GOP mega-donor Charles Koch, according to CNBC.
Updated: 11:20 p.m.