Carly Fiorina joins presidential candidate Ted Cruz as the Republican...

Carly Fiorina joins presidential candidate Ted Cruz as the Republican contender announces he has chosen her as his running mate on Wednesday, April 27, 2016. Long Island hedge fund millionaire Robert Mercer's super PAC supported both in their runs for the presidency. Credit: AP / Michael Conroy

WASHINGTON — Long Island millionaire hedge fund executive Robert Mercer must be smiling Wednesday: The two Republican White House contenders he has backed have teamed up, with Ted Cruz naming Carly Fiorina as his running mate.

A year ago, Mercer, a Head of the Harbor resident and co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies in East Setauket, set up a super PAC called Keep the Promise I and put $11 million into it, mainly to support the White House bid of Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas.

Last June, Mercer also had the super PAC contribute $500,000 to Carly for America, the super PAC backing Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, who at the time also was seeking the GOP nomination for president.

Fiorina dropped out of the race on Feb. 10 and endorsed Cruz on March 9.

Kellyanne Conway, president of Keep the Promise I, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Despite the success of New York businessman Donald Trump as the Republican front-runner, Mercer has increased his support for Cruz, adding another $2 million to the PAC on March 17.

The super PAC has spent $9.4 million, mostly on ads supporting Cruz, but also for attack ads against former Republican candidate Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida; Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

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