by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch | The Hill
President Biden’s job approval numbers may be down, but his fundraising numbers are looking up.
If former President Trump becomes the GOP presidential nominee next year, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee know from experience in 2020 that they raised at least $1.7 billion (and won), but Trump outraised them with a haul of nearly $2 billion. Incumbent presidents without competitive primaries enjoy money advantages. And it’s a good thing because Biden’s backers expect to burn through massive sums to help an octogenarian try to defeat a GOP nominee amid voter unease about the economy — and so many other issues. Biden will be in Los Angeles this evening for a big-ticket campaign fundraiser co-hosted by Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, producers Shonda Rhimes and Peter Chernin and former studio chief Jim Gianopulos, reports The Los Angeles Times. There will be more co-hosts from the worlds of politics, tech, business and law. Per-donor contributions could add up to $930,000, the Times added.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a prolific fundraiser and tireless surrogate for Democratic presidential candidates, will be there, according to reports. Both the Biden campaign and Trump’s team in 2020 pulled tens of millions of dollars out of Los Angeles County for their respective contests.
Biden began a fundraising sprint Tuesday and is expected to raise more than $15 million over the course of five days through high-dollar fundraisers and grassroots efforts, according to CNN.
AT POSH EVENTS among contributors gathered in private homes, the president assails Trump and Republican “extremists” in terms that are unequivocally a call to action. At recent events with donors, Biden described the former president as a danger to the nation whose corrosive impact on the rule of law and to the Constitution must be defeated. Democrats who initially believed Trump might lose to a GOP primary challenger or sink under the weight of 91 criminal indictments have seen the former president’s grip on the Republican Party expand.
Reuters: Trump’s legal troubles keep fueling surges in his campaign’s fundraising.
Next year’s presidential contest will be the most expensive in history. Biden’s campaign and the DNC in October reported to the Federal Election Commission a third-quarter war chest of $71 million, outpacing Trump and other candidates. Biden raised $72 million in the first quarter.
“All the money that has been raised and is continuing to be raised … is all focused on November of 2024,” campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg told CNN in October.
“All of our investment today is focused on those strategic, important places — states that are going to be where this race will be won or lost,” he added.