The billionaire owner of the New York Jets will be the top fundraiser for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.
Woody Johnson, a major GOP fundraiser who has served in similar roles for past Republican nominees, will act as the Bush campaign’s national finance chairman, the campaign confirmed Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news Wednesday.
Johnson announced in February he’d be supporting Bush for president.
{mosads}At the time, the announcement was viewed as a blow to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Johnson has supported Christie in the past, and the New Jersey governor has been seeking to gain traction among major GOP donors in the northeast.
Johnson’s Jets play their home games in Christie’s home state of New Jersey, although Christie is an unapologetic Dallas Cowboys fan.
The hire comes at a critical fundraising juncture for Bush.
The former Florida governor spent about six months in a testing-the-waters phase where he was able to solicit unlimited contributions for his super-PAC, Right to Rise. The group is expected to report later this year that it raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million in the first half of the year.
But now as an official candidate, Bush is looking to raise the smaller-dollar donations his campaign will control directly.
Johnson has a reputation as an aggressive fundraiser with close ties to Wall Street and should give the Bush campaign a boost in that capacity.
He raised tens of millions of dollars for Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid in 2008, and did so again for Mitt Romney in 2012.