Joe Biden told supporters at a private fundraising event in Los Angeles that he hails from the “corporate state of Delaware,” while protesters gathered outside objecting to corporate greed.
The meeting took place at the home of Cynthia Telles and Joe Waz in the upscale Hancock Park neighborhood on Wednesday. Telles is on the board of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Waz is a media executive for Comcast and NBCUniversal.
Protesters stood outside the home chanting “Kaiser, Kaiser, you can’t hide; We can see your greedy side … Kaiser, Kaiser, you’re no good; Treat your patients like you should.”
Biden ignored the demonstrators and noted that those inside were “extremely successful people” who probably grew up from “pretty modest backgrounds.” He cracked that he hailed from the “corporate state of Delaware.”
[Read more: Biden brags about his time in ‘the hood’]
After entering the presidential race several months after some of his rivals, Biden has worked hard to catch up in the fundraising stakes. After announcing his presidential campaign in a video released on social media on April 25, he flew to Philadelphia for a closed door fundraiser that night.
That event, the first of his 2020 run, was held at the home of a Comcast executive David Cohen. Supporters, who included healthcare executives, paid up to $2,800 for a chance to hear a 14-minute speech from Biden and enjoy Mediterranean charcuterie with sliced steak and other snacks.
Biden’s ties to corporate America have been a source of persistent criticism from the Left. Liberal Democrats have attacked Biden for his role in legislation making it harder for Americans to declare bankruptcy, as well as for his ties to lobbyists and big banks.
“Joe Biden was on the side of credit card companies,” 2020 rival Elizabeth Warren said during an April campaign stop in Iowa.
Biden mused about the pitfalls of courting wealthy donors in a 1974 television appearance, saying: “You run the risk of deciding whether or not you’re going to prostitute yourself to give the answer you know [donors] want to hear in order to get funded to run for that office.”
