Trail Blazers Owner Paul Allen Donates $100,000 to Republican Party

Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen donated $100,000 to the Protect the House committee — a group seeking to help the Republicans maintain control of the United States House of Representatives in the upcoming November election. Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times has the full story here.

Allen also donated to Democratic candidates, but those contributions have been significantly outpaced by contributions to the GOP.

FEC records show the largest chunk of Allen’s $100,000 was sent to the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), which received $33,900. An additional $5,000 went to the Great America Committee, a PAC created by Vice President Mike Pence. More than a dozen other congressional Republicans from Iowa to New York received about $2,600.

Overall in the 2017-18 election cycle, Allen has donated $173,500 to Republican congressional candidates and PACs compared with $45,900 to Democratic candidates and PACs, FEC records show.

Brunner points out that Allen’s contributions are not limited to individual candidates. His largest aggregate donations have gone towards ballot initiatives.

In 2015 he spent more than $2 million to pass an initiative criminalizing the sale or trade of ivory, shark fins or other animal parts derived from certain endangered species.

This year, he has given more than $1.2 million in support of Initiative 1639, which would impose additional regulations on firearms, including raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic weapons to 21 and requiring safe storage of guns at home.

Allen purchased the Trail Blazers in 1988. His estimated net worth is $20.3 billion.