A “lawsuit and strategic litigation” effort estimated to cost $3.75 million aims to use the courts “to hold bad actors, including the media, accountable.” A “transition project,” with an estimated price tag of $3 million, aims to bring together policy experts and plans to create a “waiting administration” to “staff the next Republican administration.”
A “red state project” aims to mimic a model developed by the left in which strategists coordinate the efforts of a range of movement groups to complement each other and avoid overlap. It is valued at $6 million to $8 million per state, and is primarily focused on the swing states of Arizona, Nevada, and Michigan.
One person familiar with Rockbridge described those projects and their fundraising goals as ambitious, saying that until now the coalition had focused on allocating donor funds to already existing groups to achieve its goals, rather than creating new ones.
The person said the coalition had been testing some of its plans, including a voter registration initiative last year in Arizona, identified in the brochure as a case study.
Arizona was the site of Rockbridge’s first summit, held last year. It featured a speech from Mr. Thiel, the billionaire tech investor. He and Ms. Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund mogul Robert Mercer, were among Mr. Trump’s largest donors in 2016, working closely together on his presidential transition team.
Since then, Mr. Thiel has emerged as a key kingmaker, backing 16 candidates for the Senate and House, some of whom have also been backed by Ms. Mercer. Many of their candidates have embraced the lie that Mr Trump won the 2020 election.
One, Blake Masters, a former Mr. Thiel’s employee who is running for the Arizona Senate, spoke Tuesday night at the Rockbridge dinner reception in Mar-a-Lago for Mr. Trump, and could potentially benefit from Rockbridge’s efforts. .