Donald Trump isn't getting money from Elon Musk. But these billionaires will open their wallets

Development comes as Elon Musk announced he would "not be donating to either candidate"

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Web Desk
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump gestures on stage during a campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia, US March 2, 2024. — Reuters
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump gestures on stage during a campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia, US March 2, 2024. — Reuters

In a major boost to Donald Trump’s presidential bid, billionaires Liz and Dick Uihlein decided to help fund the Republican’s candidate campaign, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

The couple founded the Uline shipping and packaging company from their basement in 1980 and had donated to the Republican primary campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who dropped out of the race in January.

Their decision came after the former president won 14 out of 15 states in the Super Tuesday primaries and his last Republican rival, Nikki Haley, quit the race, the FT reported.

The development comes as Tech giant Elon Musk Wednesday announced on X that he would "not be donating to either candidate" for the Presidential elections of 2024".

Trump has fallen behind Biden in fundraising ahead of the Nov 5 general election.

Trump's cash holdings dropped to just over $30 million at the end of January, down from around $33 million a month earlier, his campaign told the Federal Election Commission.

Biden, facing a less competitive process for his Democratic Party's nomination, told the FEC his campaign ended January with about $56 million in cash, up from $46 million in December.

The Uihleins had each given $1.5 million to DeSantis and Liz Uihlein told the FT she would give a similar amount to Trump.

The Wisconsin-based couple have given more than $250 million to federal candidates and political groups since the 2016 election cycle, the FT said, citing the nonprofit OpenSecrets. They backed Trump in the two previous elections, before seeking an alternative candidate to support for the 2024 race.

In an interview with the newspaper, Liz Uihlein said both Trump and Biden were already well-known to voters and she wondered how much donations helped at this stage.

"These two guys are very well-defined," she told the FT. "I don’t understand why everybody has to give all this money."