You’ve never heard the name Tatnall Hillman – but he’s been donating millions of dollars to elections you’ve certainly heard about. “Notoriously reclusive… refuses to give interviews” is how Colorado Politics describes him. “Retired Navy reserve officer and industrial heir” is the description given by the Colorado Sun. No images surface when you search his name, but his money comes from oil and gas by way of the Hillman family. Tatnall is the stepbrother of Henry Hillman, a Pittsburgh billionaire who died in 2017 and owned 80% of the Hillman empire – according to Forbes, Tatnall owned the rest with another stepbrother, Howard.

A memorandum opinion from 2008 and a series of related filings provide a wealth of data on Tatnall, describing some family history, his passion for skiing, and someone who “eschew[ed] the pursuit of a paying career.” Someone his brother, Howard, came to consider a “lazy and ungrateful dilettante, who had spent his adult life having fun.” Howard and Tatnall found themselves on opposite sides of a dispute regarding Howard’s movement of funds in his capacity as general partner of a business set up for investment purposes around the family trust to an ill-fated venture just prior to his removal as general partner. The memorandum describes Tatnall’s background in as much depth as there appears to be available online. He attended Princeton University, majored in biology, and taught high school classes in Princeton, New Jersey. But remarkably little else is known about Tatnall outside of his array of political contributions. 

Tatnall Hillman is known for giving tens of thousands of dollars to the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) super PAC over the course of the 2010s. According to Colorado Politics, in the 2010s he made over $177,000 in contributions to Republican causes and candidates in Colorado, with over 90% going to RMGO. Nationally, Hillman contributed around $2 million over 2018 and 2020 – but the roster to whom he donates has begun to shift. After donating the maximum allowed to Colorado Republican Representative Cory Gardner’s Senate campaign and Colorado Republican Representative Scott Tipton’s reelection in 2014 (the third consecutive cycle in which Tatnall contributed over $2,000 to Tipton’s campaign) and continuously through the 2020 cycle. Hillman also went on to support Tipton’s primary rival, Lauren Boebert, a controversial far-right candidate, in 2020. He also gave the maximum allowable to another controversial Republican candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, in the 2020 cycle. As of December 2021, Hillman has donated to both Boebert and Greene’s 2022 reelection campaigns.

But Hillman’s name – or at least one very close to it – now appears to have contributed to a Republican candidate in Nevada’s Third Congressional District: Noah Malgeri.

We profiled Malgeri a couple of weeks ago. He’s running in the Republican primary field currently led by April Becker to challenge Democrat Susie Lee. He has a history of making false and inflammatory statements regarding COVID-19, January 6, and the validity of Joe Biden’s election. But he’s best known for his assertion that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley should be hanged on C-SPAN for “his treachery.” He exists in the fringe of right-wing politics and his rhetoric often evokes allusions to war, treason, and evil as he describes the opposing political party.

While doing research for that piece, The Postrider stumbled upon a contribution to Malgeri’s congressional campaign for $5,800 from a “Tatnall Hillam” of Aspen, Colorado. $5,800 is the maximum allowable donation for the 2022 cycle, split between $2,900 for the primary and $2,900 for the general election. The contribution was made in October of 2021 and appears in the FEC data with a zip code (81811) that does not exist, though with Hillman’s signature listed occupation and employer throughout his FEC contributions: “Retired” and “Retired.”

But most importantly, the address listed on Malgeri’s Schedule A FEC form (listing itemized receipts) matches that on forms submitted by other campaigns to which Hillman donated. It is plausible that this is a dual data entry mistake, given the haphazard editing of some of Malgeri’s published press releases. But the typo has meant that the maximum contribution from one of the most prolific conservative donors has gone relatively unnoticed in a campaign that has otherwise been primarily funded by Malgeri himself.

If, as appears to be the case, Hillman is truly behind the donation, it represents a continued shift in his strategy. In 2020, along with his contributions to Greene and Boebert, Hillman supported candidates like Ohio Republican Jim Jordan and controversial Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz for the first time, both of whom are staunch Trump allies. But regardless of their staunch conservative background, these were incumbent Congressmen. The real shift in Hillman’s contributions is in scope and willingness to buck incumbents.

In 2010, Hillman spent around $80,000 total in contributions to 45 recipients (including both candidates and PACs). In 2010, we were only able to find one example of Hillman contributing to a primary opponent to a sitting Republican: Joe Miller against incumbent Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (though all of Hillman’s contributions to Miller were in the general election, where he was the Republican nominee). In 2020, Hillman was far more diversified, contributing over $1.4 million to around 470 recipients, with donations to candidates as distinct as Greene and Boebert as well as more traditional Republicans like Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis. Hillman has also propped up a PAC , “Drain the DC Swamp PAC”, that has been targeting Republicans who supported the January 6 commission, contributing around 80% of the total raised by the PAC as of December 2021.

And though Hillman has contributed to unusual or long-shot candidates in the past, the level of giving across the board is of note – especially when you consider who Hillman is not giving to. We acknowledged contributions to both Boebert and who she was challenging, Tipton, and an array of contributions to Republicans of all persuasions in 2020. But, as of the last FEC reports, he has not given to April Becker (the establishment favorite in Malgeri’s primary for Nevada’s Third Congressional District) or the Trump-endorsed favorite to run for Senate in Nevada, Adam Laxalt. If all is as it appears and Hillman’s generosity has found its way into a Republican primary for a low profile and controversial Nevada congressional candidate, it is certainly not something that should be lost to a data entry mistake.

We attempted to reach out to Hillman but were unable to get in touch with him. We reached out to the Malgeri campaign on March 12 to inform them of the apparent error and to inquire about the contribution, and we received a response confirming they saw our message, though they did not address the nature of our inquiry. The FEC told us that a campaign should file an amendment “once it is aware of the mistake” but as of March 17, no such amendments appear to have been filed with the FEC.