James Murdoch is arguably the highest-profile contributor to Pete Buttigieg’s campaign to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. president, according to regulatory filings released Monday.
While the “Murdoch” name is closely associated with Fox News and its conservative commentators, James has for years been far more liberal than his father, Rupert, and brother, Lachlan.
According to filings, James donated $2,800 to Buttigieg’s campaign, and it is presumably his first political donation under his new title as CEO of Lupa Systems, an investment firm he founded prior to the close of Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, where he had been CEO.
After Disney’s purchase of the Fox broadcast network, film and TV studio and other assets, Rupert and Lachlan took what was left over — primarily Fox News and Fox Sports — and created Fox Corporation, but James didn’t join either that company or Disney.
James has a history of donating mostly to the Democratic party and its individual candidates, though sometimes he veers right, such as when he gave $200 to Mitch McConnell’s campaign in 2014. Today, McConnell, a Republican, is Senate majority leader.
Other high-profile donors to Buttigieg include actors Mandy Moore and Ryan Reynolds, along with Susan Rice, who was President Barack Obama’s national security adviser before joining Netflix as a board member.
Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is new on the national scene. As of Monday, his campaign had $6.4 million on hand, just ahead of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and behind Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the Democratic hopefuls with $28 million.
Buttigieg is a former U.S. Naval intelligence officer who attended Harvard University and Oxford University. His views are pretty much in sync with his competitors, advocating for universal healthcare, more regulations involving environmentalism and wealth inequality and reversing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
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