11.03.2024

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Meet Trump’s Mass. biz supporters: It’s not a big group, but it includes some deep-pocketed venture capitalists and a construction chief

They are a minority in a deep blue state, even among the more conservative leaning business community.

But a handful of local executives are pumping thousands of dollars in contributions into the former president’s campaign, a review of Federal Election Commission records by Contrarian Boston finds.

A pair of local venture capitalists are leading the pack: Christopher F. Egan, president and founder of Carruth Capital, and James Pallotta, the billionaire head of the Raptor Group.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Son of the co-founder of EMC, Egan launched Carruth, now one of the region’s largest commercial real estate development firms, back in the 1990s.

He served as ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris in the Bush administration.

For his part, Pallotta may be best known locally for the 21,000-square-foot mega mansion he built in Weston and for being a minority shareholder for several years of the Boston Celtics.

Both Egan and Pallotta dropped $6,600 each into Trump’s campaign - the legal limit, contribution records show.

Both men have also forked over tens of thousands of dollars each to various Republican candidates and committees across the country over the past two years as well, according to Open Secrets, which tracks campaign giving.

Trump has also picked up some support from local real estate and development types.

Geoffrey Caraboolad, head of the development and construction firm Metric Corp., which has built a number of large apartment and other projects in the Boston area, dropped $3,300 into Trump’s campaign coffers.

John Calnan, whose Quincy-based construction firm can be found on any number of local projects, gave more than $3,500.

It’s worth noting there is a wrinkle to flow of money from local biz chiefs to Trump.

Calnan and (Carruth Capital) Egan’s contributions to Trump were listed in federal campaign finance records as being for a “recount” - apparently in reference to a contested congressional race in Virginia back in August that saw a Trump-backed candidate lose in the Republican primary.

All told, Trump has picked up 259 contributions of $1,000 and up from supporters in Massachusetts.

However, it’s a number that pales in comparison to the Harris campaign, for whom Massachusetts has been a veritable ATM, generating more than $37 million in contributions - behind only New York and California, according to federal campaign records.

The vice president’s campaign has picked up 10,336 contributions of $1,000 or more from Massachusetts residents, many from tech, biotech, health care, and nonprofit executives and leaders.

These include billionaire Seth Klarman, CEO of The Baupost Group, a hedge fund, who ponied up the maximum allowed by law, $6,600.

Ditto for John Maraganore, former CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Peter Palandjian, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate, Brian Halligan, CEO and founder of HubSpot.

No contest: When it comes to the professoriate at Harvard University, Harris is winning in a landslide