Rebekah Mercer (born December 6, 1973) is an American heiress and Republican political donor, and director of the Mercer Family Foundation.
Mercer began overseeing day-to-day operations of political projects for the Mercer family when the Mercers became involved in conservative causes. Her father, billionaire Robert Mercer, said in 2017 that he had sold his stake in the news site Breitbart to his daughters.
In 2018, Mercer funded and co-founded the social networking service Parler. In 2022, she created the RAM Veterans Foundation, a nonprofit organization that reviews and recommends veterans charities for donors through CharitiesForVets.org.
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Early life and education
Mercer is the second of three daughters of Diana Lynne (Dean) and billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer. She was raised in Yorktown Heights, New York, a suburb of New York City.
Mercer enrolled at Cornell University and later transferred to Stanford University, where she studied biology and mathematics. In 1999, she earned her master's degree in management science and engineering.
Career
She worked as a Wall Street trader at Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund her father helped lead. In 2006, Mercer and her sisters purchased Ruby et Violette, a New York City company that sells cookies and brownies online. In 2010, she bought six adjoining apartment units in Donald Trump's 41-story Heritage at Trump Place.
Political involvement
Mercer first became engaged in conservative politics in 2012 after Mitt Romney's defeat in the 2012 presidential election. She spoke to a group of wealthy conservative donors at the University Club of New York about what the Republican Party had done wrong in canvassing and technology operations during the election.
The following year, in 2013, Mercer helped start Reclaim New York with Steve Bannon. The organization trains citizens to watch their government closely, and uses freedom of information laws to force the New York government to disclose public spending.
In 2014, Mercer joined The Heritage Foundation's board of trustees.
In September 2016, Politico called her "the most powerful woman in GOP politics." She has been more aligned with the anti-establishment part of the Republican Party than most big Republican donors. Newsmax Media owner Christopher Ruddy called her the "First Lady of the Alt-Right".
Mercer supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
In 2016, Mercer supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries. She led Keep the Promise I, a Super PAC, which was the largest source of financial support in support of Cruz's campaign.
After Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination, however, she and her father switched their support to Trump. Mercer supported Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General and against Mitt Romney, who Trump was considering for U.S. Secretary of State.
Mercer and her father contributed $25 million during the 2016 presidential election.
In June 2016, Mercer created the Defeat Crooked Hillary PAC, and ran the organization's daily operations. The PAC was incorporated with the Federal Election Commission as Make America Number 1 and supported Trump in the general election, including making anti-Hillary Clinton advertisements.
Rockbridge Network and 1789 Capital
Mercer is a donor to the Rockbridge Network, a conservative political advocacy group. In 2022, Mercer co-founded 1789 Capital alongside fellow Rockbridge Network associates Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk.
Personal life
As a student at Stanford University, Mercer met Sylvain Mirochnikoff, a native of France. The couple married in 2003. Mercer left her trading job to home school her four children. As of 2016, Mirochnikoff was a managing director at Morgan Stanley. In 2017, the New Yorker reported that Mercer and Mirochnikoff were in the process of divorcing. The couple is divorced as of 2019.