--- title: Marco Rubio: Billionaire Paul Singer Backs Campaign description: The move is seen as a coup for Rubio's campaign and a blow to Gov. Jeb Bush's canonical: https://time.com/4095387/marco-rubio-paul-singer/ author: Jack Dickey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-31T13:06:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:14:45.943Z article:section: Politics og:title: Billionaire Investor Paul Singer Backs Marco Rubio og:description: The move is seen as a coup for Rubio's campaign and a blow to Gov. Jeb Bush's og:url: https://time.com/4095387/marco-rubio-paul-singer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9b61d36dc1139bc/69886f03a988ca651c6b512c/paul-singer.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Paul Singer, founder, CEO, and co-chief investment officer for Elliott Management Corporation, attends the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in this May 9, 2012, file photo. Billionaire New York investor Paul Singer sent a let og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Billionaire Investor Paul Singer Backs Marco Rubio twitter:description: The move is seen as a coup for Rubio's campaign and a blow to Gov. Jeb Bush's twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9b61d36dc1139bc/69886f03a988ca651c6b512c/paul-singer.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Billionaire Investor Paul Singer Backs Marco Rubio  by [Jack Dickey](https://time.com/author/jack-dickey/)  ## Jack Dickey Oct 31, 2015 1:06 PM UTC  Paul Singer, founder, CEO, and co-chief investment officer for Elliott Management Corporation, attends the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference in Las Vegas on May 9, 2012. Paul Singer, founder, CEO, and co-chief investment officer for Elliott Management Corporation, attends the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference in Las Vegas on May 9, 2012.Steve Marcus—Reuters  by [Jack Dickey](https://time.com/author/jack-dickey/)  ## Jack Dickey Oct 31, 2015 1:06 PM UTC In a move that may be an early signal of a new establishment front-runner in the crowded Republican presidential field, billionaire investor Paul Singer has pledged his support to Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Singer, the 71-year-old founder of hedge fund Elliott Associates, is not only one of the Republican party’s largest individual donors but is also regarded as especially influential among wealthy Republicans—the kind of campaign backer who can spur others to follow him. Among Singer’s chief causes are same-sex marriage and U.S. support for Israel. Should the expected financial support for Rubio materialize, it could shore up what to date has been a relative weakness for his nomination bid. Though an average of recent polls shows Rubio trailing only outsider candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson, third-quarter [campaign fundraising numbers](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/election-2016-campaign-money-race.html) showed Rubio behind Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina in the money race. Right to Rise, the major Bush-supporting super PAC, has also [out-raised](https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php) the Rubio-supporting Conservative Solutions PAC. Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had both been seeking Singer’s backing for their campaigns. According to the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/politics/paul-singer-influential-billionaire-throws-support-to-marco-rubio-for-president.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone&%5Fr=1), representatives from Bush’s campaign visited New York last week to try to sway Singer from endorsing Rubio. And as recently as Tuesday, Singer had been on the fence about whether to go with Rubio, according to [Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/marco-rubio-2016-paul-singer-215225). He was reportedly skeptical of the size and quality of the senator’s campaign operation. But Rubio’s commanding performance in the CNBC debate on Wednesday night [convinced him](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-10-31/paul-singer-backs-marco-rubio), Bloomberg reports. [Said Rubio on Friday](http://time.com/4095314/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-leaked-memo/) of Singer’s endorsement, “It’s someone who is successful in raising money. When people donate to us they are buying into our agenda.” _Michael Scherer contributed reporting_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4095387/marco-rubio-paul-singer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4095387/marco-rubio-paul-singer/"},"headline":"Billionaire Investor Paul Singer Backs Marco Rubio","datePublished":"2015-10-31T13:06:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:14:45.943Z","description":"The move is seen as a coup for Rubio's campaign and a blow to Gov. Jeb Bush's","url":"https://time.com/4095387/marco-rubio-paul-singer/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Sen. 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