after former President Trump’s Beneficial, three days During his visit to California, President Biden has returned to the West Coast to use the Democrat-dominated state’s political ATM.
With less than five months left until the November election, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel is weighing in on Biden and Former President Obama As he joins Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Julia Roberts at a star-studded fundraiser, the president’s campaign says the event is already breaking records.
Biden’s campaign claimed that “the event has already raised more than $28 million and counting — making it the largest fundraising event in Democratic Party history.”
The amount exceeds the amount raised by a fundraising event held in March at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall with Biden, Obama and former President Clinton, which raised $26 million.
Trump wins abundant greenbacks during sweeps in longtime blue state
Former Presidents Clinton (right) and Obama (left) and President Biden (center) headline a Democratic Party fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall on March 28, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images)
But Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, raised more than $50 million at a fundraiser in early April in Palm Beach, Florida, home to billionaire investor and hedge fund founder John Paulson. It was the most he has ever raised in a single fundraising event and broke the record set by Biden at Radio City Music Hall a week and a half earlier.
It’s the latest case of national leaders flocking to California for their re-election campaigns. Biden and Trump have raised more money in California than any other state this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data.
“When politicians look west, they see greenery,” Jack Pitney, a senior political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California, told Fox News.
Both President Biden and former President Trump have raised millions of dollars at fundraising events in California as they face off against each other in the 2024 election. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson and Evan Vucci)
Ticket prices for Saturday’s ceremony at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, described in an invitation as a “historic night,” range from $250 for single-person admission to $500,000 for special admission, photos with Biden and Obama and invitations to the closing party.
The president arrived In California, a week after Trump left the Golden State.
Trump’s team said that when all the money is counted, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is expected to raise about $27.5 million from the three fund-raising events. in California A senior campaign official told Fox News that another incident occurred in Las Vegas.
Why Trump’s San Francisco fundraiser was fruitful in more ways than one
And the Trump campaign said it raised an additional $6 million for outside groups supporting his reelection in a 2024 election with Biden.
Trump’s goal is to shut down their businesses. Fundraising Difference In April, his campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised more money than the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee for the first time.
Trump’s campaign announced a week ago that he and the RNC had raised a staggering $141 million in May, made possible by the former president’s conviction in his recently concluded criminal trial.
Former President Trump will appear in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
Trump was found guilty on all 34 criminal counts First test The greatest achievement of any former or current President in the history of the country.
The former president’s campaign noted that in the first 24 hours after the verdict, he and the RNC raised nearly $53 million, adding to May’s total.
Biden campaign Trump’s decision also led to a fundraising boost, and one source told Fox News that “the 24 hours following the decision were one of the best fundraising 24 hours the Biden campaign has had since its launch.”
While Trump’s fundraising effort in California was boosted by top-dollar GOP donors, including tech industry investors and hedge fund giants, fundraising for Biden on Saturday is being spearheaded by the Democratic Hollywood machine.
That’s no surprise. The entertainment industry, which gave Presidents Clinton and Obama a lot of campaign money, has long been known for its Democratic leanings.
Though Biden, 81, doesn’t have as close ties to Hollywood as his Democratic predecessors, he can still draw a crowd.
“Any Democratic presidential candidate will be able to raise a lot of money in California, and an incumbent president has a huge advantage. When the president walks into a room, it’s filled with cash,” Pitney said.
President Biden waves as he arrives at Air Force One in Los Angeles on June 15, 2024. Biden will attend a campaign event Saturday night. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Biden was delayed in raising funds in the Los Angeles entertainment district because of major strikes by two Hollywood labor unions representing film and television writers and actors from May to November of last year.
But the president began making up for lost time in December with a major fundraiser organized by famed directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner. Saturday’s mega-fundraiser was organized by media mogul and Democratic rainmaker Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is co-chairman of the Biden campaign. Katzenberg also organized the Radio City Music Hall fundraiser.
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have enlisted the help of several stars and prominent artists from the entertainment world for the president’s second term.
Those helping include famed actor Robert De Niro, who chaired a Biden campaign news conference outside a New York City courthouse during the final days of Trump’s trial.
The news conference went viral when De Niro, who played gangsters in cinematic masterpieces such as “The Godfather Part II” and “Goodfellas,” yelled at nearby Trump supporters that “you guys are gangsters” and they began yelling obscenities at the actor.
Actor Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, recently made an unannounced appearance in the White House briefing room and praised the president and referred to Biden as “Joe-Bi-Wan-Kenobi.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Spielberg has helped the D.N.C. with its storytelling efforts, and Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer recently campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris in the battleground state of Michigan.
Trump, whose last California fundraiser was held last weekend at a large gated community in Newport Beach, California, and included veteran actor Jon Voight, will spend this weekend in Michigan, where he will attend a series of events, including a roundtable discussion at a northwest Detroit church.
Supporters of former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, react to his motorcade at a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, June 8, 2024. (Reuters/David Swanson)
The Trump campaign argued that the former president would be meeting with “everyday Americans” while “Biden would be at a glitzy fundraising event in Hollywood with his elitist, out-of-touch celebrity beneficiaries.”
The Trump campaign and Republican allies have criticized the president for skipping a peace conference on Ukraine in Switzerland this weekend to attend a fundraiser in California. The US will be represented at the peace talks by Vice President Kamala Harris.
