--- description: Rebekah Mercer is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Ted Cruz wrote about the political operative. title: Rebekah Mercer by Ted Cruz: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf62c227f38af29ae/6988c37dcd1bba17a7704cb0/time-100-2017-rebekah-mercer1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 19, 2017 # Rebekah Mercer by Ted Cruz  WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: Billionaire Rebekah Mercer attends the 12th International Conference on Climate Change hosted by The Heartland Institute on March 23, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: Billionaire Rebekah Mercer attends the 12th International Conference on Climate Change hosted by The Heartland Institute on March 23, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)Photograph by Oliver Contreras—The Washington Post/Getty Images Rebekah Mercer is a warrior and a patriot. She is the daughter of a brilliant mathematician and tremendously successful investor, and blessed with her own deep intelligence and intuitive insight, and it would have been simple for her to have settled into a life of comfort and ease. But Bekah cares too much about freedom and our nation to do so. Instead, she and her father, Bob, have invested generously in helping fuel a political revolution. Their approach is multi­faceted. From think tanks to public-policy organizations to online media to path-breaking data analytics, Bekah has helped transform the world of politics. She understands the populist frustration with the bipartisan corruption in Washington, and she is one of the strongest champions of draining the swamp. And she has helped fund upstart campaigns and underdog candidates, including my own Senate and presidential campaigns. When Donald Trump won the nomination, Bekah played a pivotal role in helping assemble the team and strategy that shocked the world in November. _Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742759/rebekah-mercer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742759/rebekah-mercer/"},"headline":"Rebekah Mercer","datePublished":"2017-04-19T19:31:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:42.070Z","description":"Rebekah Mercer is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Ted Cruz wrote about the political operative.","url":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742759/rebekah-mercer/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf62c227f38af29ae/6988c37dcd1bba17a7704cb0/time-100-2017-rebekah-mercer1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf62c227f38af29ae/6988c37dcd1bba17a7704cb0/time-100-2017-rebekah-mercer1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742759/rebekah-mercer/","name":"Rebekah Mercer"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute","description":"The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZCdrcRA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-20T10:30:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742759/rebekah-mercer/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742759/rebekah-mercer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```