Greetings and welcome back to Puck.

Today, a look at the emerging strategy from Larry Ellison, the flamboyant, Lanai-owning Republican mega-donor, to elect Tim Scott as the next President of the United States. What does Larry have in store? Read on.

Mentioned in this piece: Foster Friess, Rick Santorum, Sheldon Adelson, Newt Gingrich, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Lindsey Graham, Benjamin Netanyahu, Marco Rubio, Steve Schwarzman, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Paul Singer, Safra Catz.

Then again, Ellison’s extraordinary support for Scott is what distinguishes the candidate from the likes of, say, never-gonna-happen Asa Hutchinson or Chris Sununu, who are also flirting with one percent in the polls. That financial lifeline is what makes Scott, who launched his exploratory committee last week, at least somewhat credible. Ellison’s money will give Scott, still a relatively unknown national figure, the chance to broadcast a campaign message that Scott aides see as naturally alluring, a luxury not afforded to poorer candidates. But Larryologists across Republican politics question how far he’s prepared to go to push his favored candidate: “Is he going to ride with him until the end?” wondered one Republican fundraiser. Might he close ranks with the billionaires and mega-donors agitating for a post-Trump leadership change, but who are ultimately agnostic about who takes the lead?

Republicans are also wondering what, exactly, the flamboyant showman has in store. Scott’s team knows they’ve got a special arrow in their quiver—the world’s sixth wealthiest person—and they’ve got to figure out how to use him for maximum benefit. Historically, however, Ellison has not operationalized his wealth in the realm of politics, where his campaign moves have been driven by emotional connections and relationships more than ideology. Ellison once went nightclubbing with Bill Clinton and joked that the Constitution should be amended to give the Arkansas Democrat a third term. Since then, Ellison has grown more red-pilled and hawkish on foreign policy, inspired in part by his friendship with South Carolina’s other senator, Lindsey Graham, and by a late-in-life reconnection with his Jewish roots. He became a close friend of Benjamin Netanyahu and a major backer of Marco Rubio, another fierce defender of Israel, in 2016.

Ellison has been described to me over the years as a thinking-with-his-heart donor who falls quickly for young, inspirational candidates like Scott. And this time around, people who have talked with Ellison don’t get the impression that he has all the details figured out yet. He has not, for instance, privately signaled some ballpark amount that he will spend to back Scott in his run. “It’s a little more idiosyncratic. There’s not a big strategic play to it,” said a Republican who has talked with Ellison in the past about his support for Scott. “It didn’t sound like someone who was building a real campaign-finance infrastructure to do a lot. But, by the way, if he just decides he’s going to do everything to help in his power, then that’s still a lot.”

This political bromance also signifies a pivot for Ellison, who was one of the most senior figures in the business community, alongside Steve Schwarzman and Peter Thiel, to support Trump (thanks to another Graham introduction). Ellison was particularly energized by Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, I’m told. He also clearly enjoyed the access that he and Oracle got in Washington: Oracle won tons of business in the Trump administration, and Ellison was the guy initially responsible for Trump’s obsession with the unproven Covid cure, hydroxychloroquine. Ellison hosted (and ghosted) Trump for an event at his golf course that raised $7 million for Trump’s re-election campaign, and I hear there may have been other ways that Ellison stealthily aided the re-elect. It almost paid off for Ellison with what could have been among the most valuable acquisitions in Silicon Valley history, when Oracle was briefly the frontrunner to take over TikTok’s domestic business.

Now, Ellison wants to turn the page. There is hope among Scott allies that Ellison will instead direct his energy, and Silicon Valley relationships, toward the network of super PACs they have set up to capture his largesse when Scott heads to the Bay Area in June, where Scott has always been popular. The bull case for Scott is that he could eventually broaden his fundraising base if donors sour on DeSantis, as my partner Tara Palmeri reports is beginning to happen. “He’s probably a hybrid between a Rubio and a [Scott] Walker,” said one Republican fundraiser, harkening back to 2016. “More of a Walker, where he’s going to lean heavily on one or two donors. But if the dam opens up, I think he’ll get a lot of the establishment money.”

But Scott needs Ellison to do more than have “fun.” Ideally, Ellison could be a Paul Singer-like workaholic figure in his corner who would whole-heartedly bundle and put in the needed elbow grease to whip his network—and do so publicly, for other donors to see. Ellison was once a garrulous and ostentatious playboy who personified an era of Silicon Valley showmanship, but people who know him say he has become more reclusive over the last decade or two. He left California during the pandemic, has not given an interview in several years, and his aides declined my offer for him to publicly say something nice about Scott for this piece, a missed opportunity for Ellison and Scott alike. His friends and aides are protective of Ellison, keeping away nosy reporters.

Indeed, Ellison is well-known in Republican fundraising circles for mostly keeping his own counsel; he does not have particularly developed relationships with Republican activists, nor does he have a traditional donor-advisor who serves as his proxy with other givers. The Republican closest to him is probably Safra Catz, Oracle’s C.E.O., who shares Ellison’s hawkish Zionist viewpoints and with whom Ellison will frequently talk politics. But Oracle has to labor to separate Ellison’s personal giving from the company’s politics, people familiar with the operation tell me, to the extent that an arm’s length is even possible. (Scott is not particularly active on issues that are important to Oracle.)

Ellison appears content with his mysterious, lone wolf status within the G.O.P., which allows him to have more direct relationships with individual causes and candidates. Multiple Republican fundraisers have told me over the years that they’ve secured donations just by emailing Ellison with the right pitch at the right time. Others have lamented that same lack of process, wherein there is no other gatekeeper or organization to appeal to if you strike out.

Of course, at 78 years old, Ellison is free to recline at the wellness retreat he is building on the Hawaiian island he owns and stick to his knitting. But the hope among Scott allies is that Ellison will also make calls to his network of wealthy friends and fellow tech executives to get them to cut big checks, too. After all, his reluctance to truly muscle up and put in the work may ultimately hurt his chosen candidate. So far, his $35 million interest in Scott feels more like a “pet project,” as the person who has talked with him put it. “There’s no man with a plan.”