LOS ANGELES — Here’s a Hollywood ending that President Joe Biden desires to convey to life: An incumbent dealing with robust polling numbers and questions on his superior age overcomes a brash opponent to win a second time period on the White House.
With strikes by writers and actors now over, Biden is starting to make that pitch to the Southern California set in individual. He and first woman Jill Biden had been attending six fundraising occasions and conferences between them this weekend within the Los Angeles space, asking among the glitziest names on the town to open their checkbooks for his reelection marketing campaign.
“This is an incredibly successful night,” the president mentioned at his first fundraiser kicking off the weekend on Friday night time, joking that he didn’t need to discuss lengthy as a result of he was “the only thing standing between you and Lenny Kravitz.”
Friday night time’s occasion featured a efficiency by Kravitz was hosted by movie star designer Michael Smith and his associate, James Costos, and has already pulled in over $8 million, in line with an individual aware of the matter, who insisted on anonymity to debate inside marketing campaign particulars.
“It’s just a normal Friday at our house,” Costos joked to the group of lots of that stuffed his yard to close overflow capability. He added, “This is not just a Hollywood gathering, it’s more like a national event,” saying that supporters from across the nation joined the occasion.
Biden used the occasion to put into Donald Trump, calling him “the first losing president and candidate in history who refused to except the result” of the 2020 race.
“He refused to show up at my inauguration. I can’t say I was disappointed,” Biden mentioned. Then he added, to hoots, ”My guess is he received’t present up on the subsequent inauguration.”
Hundreds of protesters demonstrating towards the Biden administration’s assist for Israel throughout its warfare with Hamas within the Gaza Strip may very well be heard chanting and blowing whistles down the hill from the fundraiser, nevertheless it’s unlikely the president might hear them from the stage.
Some of the occasions will likely be public and others non-public over roughly 36 hours in California. But organizers say Biden ought to elevate extra this weekend than in any related timeframe since saying his marketing campaign in April and will probably absorb greater than any presidential candidate has in higher Los Angeles this far out from Election Day.
“The pent-up excitement, enthusiasm is really unprecedented,” mentioned Jeffrey Katzenberg, a co-founder of DreamWorks Pictures and longtime Democratic presidential fundraiser in Los Angeles, who is likely one of the Biden marketing campaign’s nationwide co-chairs. “People are excited. They’re mobilized. And they’ve been waiting months to show their support for him.”
This weekend’s occasions are geared toward serving to Biden attain a fundraising goal of roughly $67 million for the fourth quarter of the yr, in line with a supply near the president’s marketing campaign who insisted on anonymity to debate inside numbers.
The Friday night time fundraiser featured luminaries like Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand, director Rob Reiner, recording trade mogul David Geffen and Shonda Rhimes, the showrunner of “Scandal” and govt producer of “Bridgerton.” Rocker Lenny Kravitz carried out and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the group.
Another fundraising assembly is ready for Saturday at Katzenberg’s residence.
Biden, who regularly calls himself the “most pro-union” president in U.S. historical past, stayed away from elevating cash in Los Angeles through the monthslong writers and actors work stoppages. Now, although, he’s free to court docket Hollywood – a conventional supply of large-dollar donations for Democrats – with out political blowback.
Katzenberg mentioned this weekend ought to kick off extra frequent fundraising journey out West by Biden.
Biden has additionally been amassing money on the East Coast. He flew to Boston on Tuesday for a trio of gatherings to boost cash, together with one which featured singer-songwriter James Taylor, and attended a high-dollar occasion Wednesday at a resort close to the White House.
Biden has one other fundraiser scheduled Monday in Philadelphia that’s anticipated to characteristic Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has been talked about as a possible post-2024 presidential candidate. He can also be planning an upcoming Maryland reception with Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, 45, a key voice for Biden‘s campaign with young voters.
The major push to raise money could quiet some donors who have privately grumbled that the president hasn’t executed sufficient to inventory his marketing campaign coffers forward of a 2024 race that’s prone to be hard-fought and shut.
Some within the broad coalition of voters that helped Biden defeat Donald Trump in 2020 are cautious about Biden‘s low approval ratings and there are questions, even among reliable Democrats, about whether the 81-year-old president’s age may very well be a difficulty in 2024. Others, although, have watched Trump construct a commanding early lead within the Republican presidential major and at the moment are much more anxious to again Biden, given {that a} rematch with Trump appears possible.
“Whether the enthusiasm is because of the exceptional accomplishments of President Biden, or because of the extreme alternative of someone who is declaring themselves to be an autocrat, either way, you get to the same place,” Katzenberg mentioned. “Which is, Joe Biden’s your person.”
Costos, a former HBO govt, was President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Spain. His associate, Smith, is a star inside designer who helped redesign the Oval Office through the Obama administration.
Other co-hosts for Friday’s occasion included Jim Gianopulos, former chairman of Paramount Pictures, and Wendy Schmidt, spouse of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one other potential presidential candidate after subsequent yr’s election, was additionally set to attend.
Ticket costs ranged from $1,000 for basic admission to $500,000 to attend at “chairman” stage.
Also listed as cohosts had been Bob Tuttle, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom below Republican President George W. Bush, and his spouse, Maria Hummer Tuttle.
Biden has held only one marketing campaign rally to date, addressing a summer season occasion in Philadelphia with massive unions who collectively endorsed his reelection. Instead, he’s targeted on governing and elevating cash. The marketing campaign has additionally coordinated with the Democratic National Committee to assist defray promoting prices and construct out staffing in key states across the nation – attempting to maintain spending low till the race heats up subsequent yr.
The president and the DNC reported elevating greater than $71 million within the quarter ending Sept. 30. Biden‘s joint fundraising agreement with the DNC and state parties allows him to receive a check from a single donor that is in the range of $1 million.
His third-quarter haul exceeded the roughly $70 million that Obama and his affiliated committees raised in the same quarter in 2011, without adjusting for inflation. But it fell short of Trump, who reported raising $125 million with the Republican National Committee during the third quarter when he was seeking reelection in 2019.
The Biden campaign also noted, however, that its third-quarter total outpaced the $45.5 million Trump’s marketing campaign reported taking in throughout the identical interval this yr, and mentioned that the president had $91 million money readily available on the finish of September, which it mentioned was the best whole by a Democrat at that time in an election cycle.
Brian Goldsmith, a Democratic marketing consultant primarily based in California who deliberate to attend Biden‘s occasion Friday, mentioned, “It’s great he’s coming,” however, “I don’t know how often he’s gonna come back, nor do think he should come back that much.”
“I think donors understand that, between Israel, Ukraine, another potential government shutdown, he’s got a big job to do,” mentioned Goldsmith. “The best thing he can do to get reelected is continue to do a good job being president.”
• Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
