The GoFundMe C.E.O. Wants You to Ask: ‘How Can I Help?’
Kris Kobach (left) and Paul Ryan
A campaign to save the Republican nominee for president has gone viral, raising more than $1 million.
The GoFundMe page was started by an unnamed donor who hopes to raise $1 million to offset Kobach’s legal battle for Wisconsin governor against the Democratic candidate, state legislative leaders and the state’s Democratic attorney general. The page says that if the fundraising goal is met, the donor will “spend the money on behalf of Paul Ryan.”
Kobach, a former secretary of state and the founder of the State Elections Commission, was running for governor against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett before a judge threw out his primary victory over Barrett in May. Kobach won the general election on Aug. 14, but Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who ran a write-in campaign, is now leading in the polls after his first debate with Trump.
”I don’t have the financial means to run the election,” he told The Huffington Post. “I’m just asking that you go to my GoFundMe page (kobachForGovernor.com) and we don’t know who donated so there’s no way for me to know. I’m the donor. I’ve already pledged so it’s a conflict of interest so I refuse. I’m a businessman and I’m running for governor. I’m not a political activist.”
A GoFundMe spokesman told HuffPost that the donor behind the page “has pledged to contribute the full amount raised to his campaign to be governed by Paul Ryan.”
Here’s the GoFundMe page detailing the campaign:
The campaign, which was organized by the political action committee GOPAC, has raised more than $1 million with thousands of donors contributing through individual and corporate GoFundMe pages.
The largest GoFundMe account to date is tied to a $1 million donation from the John Bolton PAC, run by former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor John Bolton. The group is calling for “President Bannon to step down.”