Want to have an intimate dinner with Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel? Just donate $5,800 to one of his employees’ campaigns for US Senate.
Donors who give the maximum legal amount to support Blake Masters’ bid to unseat Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022 will be invited to have dinner with the candidate and Thiel, according to the campaign.
Masters, the 34-year-old chief operating officer at investment firm Thiel Capital and a former protege of Thiel at Stanford University, first announced his Republican primary campaign last month with a promise to “completely end illegal immigration.”
In a tweet announcing the unconventional promotion, Masters said people who donated $5,800 by the end of the day Friday would be able to attend dinners with the pair in small groups of four to six.
Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine, said that nothing about Masters’ offer appeared to violate campaign finance laws.
“It’s very common for celebrities to lend their names or appearances to help a campaign,” said Hasen. ‘What’s unusual about this is that seems pretty cheap for a meeting with Peter Thiel.”
Thiel has already donated $10 million to a Super PAC supporting Masters, as well as an additional $10 million to another one of his employees, “Hillbilly Elegy” author and Ohio senate candidate J.D. Vance.
Now, the Silicon Valley billionaire known for co-founding PayPal and Palantir and being an early investor in Facebook is giving Masters another boost.
Masters — who co-wrote the best-selling 2014 book “Zero to One” with Thiel — declined to say how many people have taken his campaign up on the offer or what will be served at dinner.
“The response has been great — especially as a lot of these people have never donated to any political candidate before,” Masters told The Post on Friday.
Some critics have pointed out that Masters’ plans to increase border security could make his current boss rich.
Thiel, who is the co-founder and chairman of Palantir — a multibillion-dollar data analysis company that has worked with agencies like Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Patrol — as well as a major investor in Anduril, another tech company that works with CBP.
Asked last month if his plan for the border as Senator would include giving more government contracts to his current boss’ companies, Masters did not say.
“I’m familiar with those companies and bullish on them,” he said in reference to Palantir and Anduril. “I’m open to whatever works.”
Masters has also denied that Thiel’s extensive support would allow the billionaire to buy influence.