On election night, President Donald Trump called on some of his closest advisors to meet with him at the White House to watch the incoming midterm results and prepare for what could be a rough night for the Republican party, CNBC has learned.
Some of the GOP’s top financiers including Dallas investor Tommy Hicks Jr., oil tycoon Harold Hamm, CEO of Blackstone behemoth Steve Schwarzman, Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson, and 2020 Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale were all invited to join the president at the White House for dinner and an election viewing party, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Hamm, Hicks, Adelson and Parscale all made it to the event, the sources said. It’s unclear if Schwarzman attended, they added.
The White House and representatives for the party attendees did not return requests for comment.
All of the executives have played a role this election season in trying to help Republicans maintain their majorities in the U.S. House and Senate in the lead up to the 2018 midterm election.
Adelson, and his wife Miriam, were the top donors to candidates running for congressional office in the 2018 election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The couple gave a combined $113 million to Republican causes.
Adelson was also one of Trump’s top financial backers when he ran for president in 2016.
Hicks and Hamm lead the pro-Trump nonprofit, America First Policies. Hamm is a member of the board of directors while Hicks is the chairman of the group. Its sister super PAC, America First Action, led by Hicks, spent $27 million against Democrats in 2018.
Schwarzman was a key backer to GOP efforts this year. He gave just over $12.8 million in 2018.
Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats to win a majority in the House. They need to add two seats to take the Senate, but a victory in that chamber is less likely as they’re defending vulnerable lawmakers in red states across the country.
Nonpartisan elections analysis site Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball also expects Democrats to pick up more than 30 seats in the House.
