President Joe Biden is turning to Hollywood stars, rockers, producers and hitmakers to raise campaign cash for the 2024 election, where he faces Donald Trump and voters feel dissatisfied with their choices.
Biden kicked off a series of nine major fundraisers on Tuesday as he left the White House for Boston, where singer-songwriter James Taylor will be on the bill for an evening concert.
The “You've Got a Friend” singer has performed for Biden and failed 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton in the past. Now he and other bold-faced names are lending their time and star power in a third attempt to keep Trump out of the White House.
Biden, 81, has already launched the TV ads earlier than usual — a sign that he plans to rely heavily on the airwaves even as he ramps up campaign travel in search of cash.
Season of Giving: President Joe Biden went to Boston on Tuesday for a trio of fundraisers. He has campaign events planned
That brings him to Hollywood this weekend, now that the writers' strike is over.
The sprint includes a minimum of nine fundraisers before the end of the month starting Tuesday. Biden will hold three events in the Democratic stronghold of Boston, culminating in the Taylor concert.
On Friday he heads to California for a two-day stop where he will tap the deep pockets of Hollywood stars like directors Stephen Spielberg and Rob Reiner – who is taking a break from his reboot of the '80s cult classic 'This is Spinal Tap'. '
Friday's event in Los Angeles is also expected to bring wealthy donors from the legal, technological and political worlds to the home of Michael Smith, a famed interior designer, and his partner James Costos, a former HBO executive who served as President Barack Obama's ambassador to Spain was, lure. the sources said.
The president is raising money in Boston and later Los Angeles in a fundraising sprint for his re-election efforts
Musician Lenny Kravitz will perform at the event, the sources said. He performed at the Kennedy Center Honors and was at the White House under President Obama when his uncle Private First Class Leonard M. Kravitz was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, will host. TV producer Shonda Rhimes, who is behind 'Grey's Anatomy' among others, will also be there.
Wendy Schmidt, wife of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, and former Ambassador Robert Tuttle will attend, sources said.
On the way to Boston, White House deputy spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said the president's trip “is certainly being paid for in full compliance with federal regulations,” when asked about the lack of an official event, as opposed to a campaign event.
She said the president is president “wherever he is,” and that in the future there will be “some days where it's all political travel,” and some days where it's mixed. (This allows the White House to pay a larger share of the cost of a trip).
“We are working hard on our fundraising program and look forward to outperforming the MAGA field once again,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said.
Next week, Biden returns to battleground Pennsylvania, where he has visited repeatedly as president, and to Maryland with Democratic governors Josh Shapiro and Wes Moore.
Vice President Kamala Harris and campaign surrogates including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Sen. Alex Padilla, as well as Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, will also headline fundraisers in December.
Biden also hit the campaign trail at an event in Denver last week.
Biden will need a significant war chest to enter the general election that could include a rematch with his predecessor Trump. Recent polls have shown Republican Party front-runner Biden leading in hypothetical contests in key swing states and nationally.
Biden and the demo The Democratic National Committee reported he raised more than $71 million in his re-election bid for the quarter ending Sept. 30, even as polls show him locked in a tough battle with Trump in battleground states. They brought in a similar amount in the previous quarter.
However, Republican donors are currently divided ahead of the party's primaries, with billionaire Charles Koch's political group backing Nikki Haley, casino billionaire Miriam Adelson waiting for a primary winner, and Trump-backing Super PACs spending millions to support other Republicans to attack.
That surpassed Trump and the rest of the Republican primary field during the same periods. The president's political operation, along with the Democratic National Committee, ended last quarter with $91 million in cash.
Hollywood and the entertainment industry tend to be Democratic, at least when it comes to fundraising, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign contributions. In 2020, the entertainment industry provided $163.6 million in campaign donations, 88% of which went to Democrats.