In a Democratic primary marked by the demonization of corporate cash and the influence of big money in politics, Joe Biden made his first major appearance after he kicked off his campaign at a private high-dollar fundraiser rather than at a public event or rally open to all supporters.
While the former vice president was spotted Thursday at a pizzeria and talked to reporters at a train station in Wilmington, Del., Biden’s first major appearance as a 2020 candidate was at the home of Comcast executive David L. Cohen in Philadelphia for a fundraiser that evening.
Executives from Independence Blue Cross and powerhouse law firms as well as some GOP donors were among the 150 or so people who attended the event. Attendees were asked to contribute up to $2,800 each, the legal maximum for individual campaign contributions.
The Philadelphia fundraiser reportedly raised over $700,000 for Biden’s campaign.
Biden’s first public campaign event is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh, Penn., four days after his official announcement. An “official” campaign kick-off rally will also take place in Pittsburgh on May 18.
More high-dollar fundraising events such as the one in Philadelphia are in the works. Biden’s team is reportedly planning a fundraiser in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 8 hosted by former HBO executive and Ambassador to Spain James Costos, targeting donors in the entertainment industry.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., liberal candidates who are also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, sent fundraising emails to supporters Thursday that took swipes at Biden for embracing high-dollar donors.
“It’s a big day in the Democratic primary and we’re hoping to end it strong. Not with a fundraiser in the home of a corporate lobbyist, but with an overwhelming number of individual donations in response to today’s news,” the email from Sanders’ campaign said.
“Every single grassroots donor owns an equal piece of this campaign and gets equal access to Elizabeth — because it takes a grassroots movement to make real change, and she doesn’t sell her time to wealthy donors at private fundraisers,” Warren’s campaign wrote.
Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist and senior vice president at public relations firm MWWPR, told the Washington Examiner that while voters don’t want to see big corporations control an election, there’s less hostility to individuals making large contributions since they are just putting their money behind something they believe in. The attacks on Biden’s fundraising approach from Warren and Sanders may end up showing their own campaigns in a “really, really poor light,” she said.
“I think there’s certainly a line in terms of where he needs to prioritize where he’s getting money from, and he does need to appeal to small-dollar donors. But to simply write off every single donation from somebody who runs a business is ridiculous and irresponsible,” said Holdsworth, who is a supporter of Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Democratic presidential bid.
Biden tapped into his big-donor network in part to post a good showing out of the gate. He reportedly told participants in a fundraising call with top donors and supporters on Wednesday to give to the campaign as soon as possible, noting, “We’re going to be judged by what we can do in the first 24 hours, the first week.”
His strategy is working well so far. The campaign reported a record $6.3 million haul in the first 24 hours after his announcement, exceeding the first-day take of any other Democratic hopeful. While the campaign said that 97% of online donations were $200 or less, it did not specify what portion of the $6.3 million came from online donations or what percentage of the total $6.3 million were small-dollar donations.
A potential challenge for Biden, though, will be sustaining his fundraising in the coming months.
“If you only raise the money from big donors, it’s hard to go back and keep raising that same amount of money, and you eventually run out of those big donors,” Democratic strategist Jeff Hewitt told the Washington Examiner. “You have to inspire some small-dollar donors to stay in the race.”
