Biden’s biggest donors powerless, unable to convince him to step aside
Biden, 81, wrote in a letter to the group on Monday that he is “committed to staying in this race, seeing this race through to the end, and defeating Donald Trump.” (Photo: Bloomberg)
By Amanda Gordon, Bill Allison and Dawn Lim
They pride themselves on being doers: they take decisive action at key tipping points and anticipate major power shifts.
But as the Democratic Party finds itself in the midst of one of its greatest crises ever, Wall Street’s most influential donors, like much of the rest of the country, are holding back and waiting.
The sentiment within Manhattan circles, a top Wall Street executive said Monday, has largely remained unchanged since Joe Biden’s June 27 debate: A shakeup at the top of the ticket will boost Democrats’ chances of defeating Donald Trump. This comes as the president has promised party members he will stay in the 2024 race, seeking to quell dissension within his ranks as lawmakers return to Washington.
Biden, 81, wrote in a letter to the group on Monday that he is “committed to staying in this race, seeing this race through to the end, and defeating Donald Trump.”
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe program, he challenged anyone who thought he should not run for re-election to challenge him at the Democratic National Convention.
“I don’t care what the millionaires think,” Biden said Monday on MSNBC. “I want their support, but that’s not why I’m running.”
Still, the campaign needs money from wealthy donors, as Trump and Republicans now raise similar amounts to Democrats. Biden, along with campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, took part in a call with some of the campaign’s biggest donors on Monday.
“The party has spoken. The Dem candidate is me,” Biden said. “We can’t waste any more time getting distracted.”
Campaign donations have declined in recent days, with some wealthy donors saying they will withhold future contributions until Biden is off the list, according to a person familiar with the fundraising efforts. The Biden campaign has said grassroots contributions surged after the debate, reporting that it raised more in June than in any other month.
Biden’s substantial war chest was a selling point for donors, especially compared to Trump’s cash-strapped primary campaign. But since securing the nomination, Trump has outpaced and outspent Biden, now having $285 million in cash on hand, his campaign says.
Unlike Trump, who has spent little on TV or offices in swing states, Biden’s campaign is taking an expensive approach, spending $48 million on advertising time last month alone, according to AdImpact.
“I know a lot of donors who are very unhappy and are not going to spend any money on the campaign,” said Vin Ryan, founder of Schooner Capital and a longtime Democratic donor. “There’s going to be a lot of money going into the House and Senate elections.”
Ryan said a Biden replacement would likely receive an outpouring of support from donors, with many willing to bet on a younger and more outspoken candidate.
Two Democratic fundraisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak privately, said they were advising donors before the debate to direct their donations toward competitive House races. Now, however, they worry that Democratic congressional candidates will lose out to Republicans in droves with Biden leading the pack.
“Let’s not blindly follow our friend off a cliff,” Novogratz wrote on X on Monday. “It’s time to leave gerontocracy behind.”
Alternative investments
The lack of real leverage to force Biden out, combined with a desire to prevent a Trump victory, has led some Democratic donors to launch efforts to find a replacement. Bill Harris, the former CEO of Intuit Inc. and Paypal Holdings Inc., has personally funded polls on voter perceptions of Biden’s age in swing states. Harris donated to Biden in 2020 but has decided not to support him this cycle.
Georgetown University professor Rosa Brooks and investor Ted Dintersmith have also devised a plan for a “blitz primary” in which celebrities — including Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift and Stephen Curry — introduce candidates to voters before early elections are held to choose a successor to Biden.
The plan is new, but the chances of it becoming reality are slim, even though the authors themselves admit this.
“While we hope for help from the Lord Almighty,” the plan says, in a nod to Biden’s interview with ABC on Friday in which he said he would only step down if God told him to, “he/she helps those who help themselves. We must act now.”
First print: 09 Jul 2024 | 08:32 am IST