Founded in 2019, Rockbridge Network seeks to influence US politics through a network of centrally controlled right-wing political groups backed by some of the same deep-pocketed tech investors who helped Vance’s political rise.
The existence of the Rockbridge and Vance link has been previously reported. But three internal documents Rockbridge reviewed and a half-dozen sources familiar with the group reveal the size of its ambitions, its estimated budget of $75 million for 2024 and its role in influencing November’s presidential election.
Rockbridge shows how Trump’s selection of Vance as his running mate could embolden a new set of Republican entrepreneurs: heavyweight tech investors who favor far-reaching deregulation. Many want to dismantle the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates Wall Street, and reduce oversight of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.
Rockridge’s financial backing reflects Silicon Valley’s influence on conservative politics and marks an evolution from more traditional Republican activists, whose political networks have lost influence since Trump took over the party.
Rockbridge oversees five political groups and one super PAC focused on financing right-wing investigative reports, underwriting opinion polls, turning out voters in state battles and spurring churchgoers to political activism, according to a seven-page Rockbridge prospectus issued to donors ahead of the April retreat. in Palm Beach, Florida. Super PACs – short for political action committees – can spend an unlimited amount of money on independent campaigns for candidates. Vance, identified in the prospectus as the founder of Rockbridge, appears to have no official ties to the group. Instead, he maintained an informal relationship, and spoke to more than 100 members and donors gathered at a bi-annual retreat in April, according to participants and a memo outlining the event’s agenda. A longtime associate of Vance’s, Republican businessman Chris Buskirk, is another founder of Rockbridge. Rockbridge Network’s donor outreach is managed by Rockbridge Network LLC, a nonprofit Delaware corporation that helps manage donations to the network’s political groups. The owner is not identified in company records.
Two Rockbridge officials, who handle donor contacts and donations, are also members of Vance’s current fundraising team, according to two internal documents and a campaign official. Many Rockbridge donors supported Vance politically.
A spokeswoman for Vance declined to comment on Rockbridge. The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about the role of the network and its relationship with at least two campaign staffers.
Vance’s poor and unstable upbringing in Ohio led to his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and the Trump campaign hopes his story will resonate with working-class voters. “We need leaders who are not in the pockets of big business, but answer to working people, union and non-union,” Vance said in his July 17 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. His resume also includes a degree from Yale Law School and a lucrative career as a San Francisco Bay Area-based venture capitalist.
The Rockbridge network he founded is heavily drawn from the elite world of technology and investment. Several prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists and crypto investors have backed Trump. Conservatives in the tech industry say they are concerned about the Biden administration’s handling of crypto and its cautious approach to artificial intelligence.
Rockbridge has not disclosed any financial supporters and is not required to disclose under campaign finance laws.
But according to two sources with knowledge of Rockbridge, including Peter Thiel, the German-born libertarian billionaire who is pouring millions into Vance’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. The members also include venture capitalist Blake Masters, a Thiel protégé and former U.S. Congressional candidate in Arizona, and investor Omeed Malik, a former Democrat who now backs the conservative-friendly firm, the source said. Right-wing activist and heiress Rebekah Mercer, a major Trump donor, is also a supporter.
Spokesmen for Thiel and Mercer did not respond to requests for comment. Masters did not respond to a request for comment.
Since being chosen by Trump as his running mate last month, Vance has held rallies in the warring states and fundraisers, including one in Silicon Valley. Her debut falters at times, especially due to her 2021 dig at the “childless cat lady,” a jab that seems misogynistic and discriminatory toward childless people.
RECRUITING CHURCHGOERS, INVESTMENT IN MEDIA
Reuters reviewed two documents distributed to donors who attended Rockbridge’s April retreat in Palm Beach. The five-page memo details the agenda for the three-day meeting. A separate seven-page prospectus explains Rockbridge’s political vision and project. Reuters also obtained invitations sent to donors to a private dinner in Dallas last month to discuss Rockbridge. All three documents are labeled “confidential.”
Appearances from guest speakers at the Palm Beach gathering underscore Rockbridge’s influence. Trump himself spoke by video from New York, where he was on trial in a money laundering case at the time. Trump campaign chairwoman Susie Wiles gave a presentation during a segment titled “Winning the White House.” Influential conservative legal figure Leonard Leo and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, a Trump donor, also spoke, according to the memo.
Leo did not respond to questions sent to the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group he leads. Johnson did not respond to questions sent to the New York Jets.
Rockbridge, according to the document, is comprised of a small group of groups, none of which have their own websites or much of a public footprint. It has 150 to 200 members and has a 2024 budget of between $70 million and $80 million, sources familiar with the group said. Membership fees range from $100,000 to $1 million, according to Rockbridge’s prospectus.
Two Rockbridge groups — Virginia-based Better Tomorrow and Washington-based Over the Horizon — are focused on the get-out-the-vote operation, according to the document. He helped Trump and Vance in seven swing states, sources familiar with the group said. The two groups, plus a super PAC led by Buskirk that was first revealed by The New York Times, will have about 5,000 people in the field for the drive, the source added.
Another Rockbridge group, Faithful in Action, has more than 160,000 members, according to its prospectus. Its mission is to recruit church residents into political activism, the prospectus said. It was incorporated in 2023 in Wyoming, and state records show its president is Buskirk. Reuters could not independently confirm the current size or activity.
Rockbridge’s efforts to influence journalism are led by Firebrand Action, which incorporated in Virginia in 2022. State records list Firebrand’s president as Buskirk and its secretary as James Blair, a member of Trump’s campaign staff and former deputy chief of staff for Florida Governor Ron Desantis. Blair resigned from Firebrand in the spring before joining the Trump campaign, sources familiar with his role said.
Rockbridge’s fund reports are “published by aligned media outlets,” the prospectus said. Reuters was unable to identify the articles or media supported by the group. Firebrand Partners and Revitalization, a charitable investment account, are both listed in their prospectus as supporting “investigative journalism” and public polling that has been included in the RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight polling averages for political races. The document does not name the pollsters involved. RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight did not respond to requests for comment.
Rockbridge has also become an incubator for new ventures. At the Rockbridge 2022 summit, Buskirk, investor Malik, a Mercer hedge fund heir and former congressional candidate Arizona Masters began discussing how to finance the “parallel economy” of conservative businesses, one attendee said. That will eventually become 1789 Capital, a $150 million Palm Beach-based venture capital firm owned by Buskirk, Malik and Mercer, the source added.
Last year, 1789 Capital announced its first investment: $15 million into conservative TV personality Tucker Carlson’s newly formed company “Last Country Inc.”
In April, at a “fireside chat” with more than 100 potential Rockbridge donors at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, Vance sat across from Buskirk in a chair, according to attendees and a memo detailing the agenda. Sources said Vance’s speech was hard on key policy planks: reluctance to take on Russia in Ukraine; the false claim that Trump won the 2020 election; and emphasize what Vance considered family values ​​such as the importance of marriage and children.
Vance and Buskirk were introduced by Thiel and first met in San Francisco after Trump’s 2016 election victory, according to sources familiar with Rockbridge. At the time, Vance was working for Thiel’s venture capital firm, Mithril Capital. Vance and Buskirk launched Rockbridge in 2019 as an informal network to “change the current Republican ecosystem,” the prospectus said.
Vance’s rise to the presidential ticket has attracted the interest of other donors in Rockbridge, said two sources familiar with the group.
On July 25, 10 days after Vance was elected, an invitation went out to several Republican donors for a “private dinner and discussion about the Rockbridge Network” in Dallas, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.