Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson — the widow of casino mogul and longtime GOP kingmaker Sheldon Adelson — is staging a return to politics, positioning herself to be a force in the 2022 midterms and beyond.
Adelson, who with her husband formed the Republican Party’s most powerful donor couple for the last decade, quietly held meetings in her Las Vegas home with a select group of GOP leaders and potential 2024 presidential candidates in the last few days. It represents a coming out for the 75-year-old Adelson, who has kept a low political profile since her husband’s death in January, turning down requests for sit-downs with candidates and keeping her multibillion-dollar checkbook shut.
Those familiar with the discussions — which coincided with the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference at the lavish, Sheldon Adelson-built Venetian hotel on the Strip — say they were designed to relay a straightforward message: Despite her husband’s death, Adelson plans to dole out big checks and be an influential player shaping the future of the party, which over the past decade has reaped more than a half-billion dollars of the family’s fortune.
