Billionaire who donated to Trump in 2016 donates to Biden

Jennifer Pritzker, a billionaire who donated to President Trump in 2016, made a $2,000 donation to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in August. 

The donation pales in comparison to the $250,000 she donated to Trump in 2016, though it underscores Biden’s effort to court supporters from the other side of the aisle. 

Jennifer Pritzker, whose cousin is Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), is an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune. 

In a July 2017 opinion piece in the Chicago Sun-Times, Pritzker said Trump’s decision to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military “hurts our armed forces and shows a callous disregard for the rights of American citizens.”

Pritzker is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and the world’s only known transgender billionaire.

“Being a transgender woman, I had to hide who I was during my time in service,” Pritzker said at the time. “This can be a monumental task. Waking up every day and pretending to be something you’re not is extremely difficult and mentally exhausting.”

“I was hopeful, after Obama’s announcement, that future service men and women would not have to walk this same path,” she added.

In a January 2019 opinion piece in The Washington Post, Pritzker wrote that she “hoped the Republican Party would reform from within and end its assault on the LGBTQ community.”

“When the GOP asks me to deliver six- or seven-figure contributions for the 2020 elections, my first response will be: Why should I contribute to my own destruction?” Pritzker wrote.

Pritzker also donated $27,000 to the Libertarian National Committee last month and donated $1,000 to a PAC affiliated with former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg while he was still in the Democratic primary.

She has also financially supported moderate Republicans in tight Senate races this cycle, such as Sens. Cory Gardner (Colo.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Thom Tillis (N.C.)