Another billionaire weighs in on state’s attorney’s race: George Soros gives $2M to group backing Foxx

A political action committee founded by liberal billionaire philanthropist — and Donald Trump nemesis — George Soros kicked $2 million to a committee supporting Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in her re-election bid against three Democratic primary challengers.

A mega donor to Democrats and liberal causes, the hedge fund operator’s Democracy PAC transferred $2 million into the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC on Wednesday.

The justice and public safety PAC has so far spent $571,359.30 on mail, media and website production costs opposing Bill Conway, one of Foxx’s primary challengers.

Soros, worth an estimated $8.3 billion according to Forbes, is not the first billionaire to lay down money in the race.

Conway’s campaign coffers have been bolstered by donations from his dad, William E. Conway Jr., one of the founders of the private equity firm the Carlyle Group. More than 88% of the challenger’s total warchest came from his dad, the Sun-Times found last month.

The senior Conway has a net worth of $3.5 billion, according to Forbes.

A spokeswoman for Foxx said the campaign is “not coordinating with anyone related to Soros” or with the justice and public safety committee.

That committee, which also says its goal is to oppose Conway, was created by Whitney Tymas, who also created a 2016 committee called Illinois Safety and Justice, according to a Crain’s report on the committee.

Soros, 89, is the founder of Soros Fund Management LLC. He’s donated more than $32 billion to his Open Society Foundations, which funds democracy and human rights projects in more than 100 nations, according to his web site.

Soros was a big Hillary Clinton backer and has called Trump “a conman and the ultimate narcissist” and said his “politics are a malignant disease.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia and Rich Hein/Chicago Sun-Times files

He’s also a favorite target of Republicans and the far right. Trump supporters frequently try to tie Soros to a variety of conspiracies.

Besides Foxx and Bill Conway, Democrats running for state’s attorney include former Ald. Bob Fioretti and former prosecutor Donna More. Two Republicans are also running: Pat O’Brien, a former Cook County circuit judge, and Christopher Pfannkuche, who ran against Foxx in 2016.