Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts could succeed Wynn as RNC fundraiser
The Republican National Committee is considering Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts to succeed Steve Wynn as the party's top fundraiser, according to four people with knowledge of the party's deliberations.
Ricketts is high on a short list of candidates to replace Wynn, said two of the people, all of whom asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to speak on behalf of the party. The casino magnate resigned Saturday after reports that he had engaged in multiple instances of sexual harassment.
Ricketts, President Donald Trump's first pick to be deputy Commerce secretary, withdrew his nomination in April, saying he couldn't unwind his financial holdings to the satisfaction of the Office of Government Ethics. He was also a finalist last year to lead the Heritage Foundation, the conservative Washington think tank.
Lauren Rakolta, a Michigan fundraiser and niece of RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney, is also under consideration for the finance chair role, said two of the people familiar with the RNC's thinking. She might become co-chair with Ricketts, according to one of those people. Rakolta served as state finance director for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign when her father, John Rakolta, was a national finance co-chairman.
Rakolta, who donated to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign in 2015, is president and chief executive officer of DFM Solutions, a Detroit-based facilities management organization. The company has 400 employees and manages more than 30 million square feet of industrial manufacturing, research and development and commercial space, according to its website. Overall, Rakolta has given $57,300 in contributions to federal candidates and committees since 2002.
Louis DeJoy, now national deputy finance chairman, is also under consideration, according to two of the people. Trump privately expressed support for DeJoy, the former chairman and chief executive officer of New Breed Inc., according to an earlier report by CNN.
Under Wynn, the RNC set a fundraising record in 2017 for a non-election year. It ended November with $33.5 million more in the bank than its Democratic counterpart, thanks in part to the big donors Wynn attracted. The duties for the job include building a national network of fundraisers and courting top donors, who increasingly have more options amid the rise of outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited sums.
Before Wynn, the RNC post was held by New York financier Lew Eisenberg, a longtime Republican money-raiser and a former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.