Robert Mercer
Hard-right GOP / national-conservative; founder of the right-wing-media + data-operation infrastructure.
Who they are.
Former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, the highly secretive quantitative hedge fund founded by Jim Simons. Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer were the principal funders behind the rise of Breitbart News, Cambridge Analytica, and the 2016 Trump campaign's data operation. Mercer stepped back from public political-giving in 2017 amid scrutiny but the network he built remains structurally influential.
The chain.
- Make America Number 1 PACPrimary funder (2016 pro-Trump super PAC)
- Club for Growth ActionMajor donor
- Donald Trump (R, President 2016)~$15M to Make America Number 1 PAC; Cambridge Analytica data operation2016 · Won 2016 general election
- Breitbart News + right-wing-media infrastructureEstimated $10M+ to Breitbart equity stake (Mercer family)2011-2018 · Became dominant US right-wing-media platform 2014-2018
- Ted Cruz (R, 2016 GOP primary)~$13.5M to Keep the Promise PACs (Cruz super PAC family)2016 · Cruz lost GOP primary to Trump; Mercer pivoted to Trump
The targets.
On the record.
“I am not racist, I am not sexist… I do not believe that white people are superior to other races, nor do I support white nationalism.”
Sources.
Questions about Robert Mercer.
Who is Robert Mercer?
Mercer was co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, the quantitative hedge fund founded by mathematician Jim Simons. Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer used the wealth generated by Renaissance to fund the rise of Breitbart News, Cambridge Analytica, and the data operation behind the 2016 Trump campaign. Mercer stepped back from public political-giving in 2017.
What is Cambridge Analytica?
Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm that used Facebook data — much of it harvested without users' meaningful consent — to build psychographic voter-targeting models. It was a key vendor to the 2016 Trump campaign. The Mercer family was the principal funder. The firm collapsed in 2018 amid the data-harvesting scandal.
Is Mercer still politically active?
Mercer's direct political giving has been substantially reduced since his 2017 step-back from Renaissance Technologies. But the institutional infrastructure he funded — Breitbart, parts of the conservative-media ecosystem, and the data-targeting playbook — remains structurally present in GOP campaigns. His daughter Rebekah Mercer continues to be politically active.