After former President Trump cashed in on a three-day visit to California, President Biden is heading back to the West Coast to tap into the Democratic-majority state’s political ATM machine.
With less than five months to go until the November election, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel will team up with Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Julia Roberts to interview Biden and former President Barack Obama at a star-studded fundraiser expected to raise millions of dollars.
It’s the latest instance of national politicians coming to California to boost their campaign coffers: Both Biden and Trump have raised more money in California than any other state this election, according to figures from the Federal Election Commission.
“When politicians look west, they see greener fields,” Jack Pitney, a veteran political scientist at California-based Claremont McKenna College, told Fox News.
Trump wins big green stake in move around blue bastion
President Biden and former President Trump both raised millions of dollars at a fundraiser in California ahead of their 2024 presidential rematch. (AP Photo/Julia Nickinson and Evan Vucci)
The gala, to be held at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, is described in invitations as a “historic evening,” with admission prices ranging from $250 per person to $500,000, which includes special access, photo opportunities with Biden and Obama and invitations to the after-party.
President Trump arrived in California a week after leaving the state.
Once the Trump campaign has tallied all the money, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee expects to raise about $27.5 million from three fundraisers in California and one in Las Vegas, a senior campaign official told Fox News.
Why Trump’s San Francisco fundraiser was a success on multiple fronts
The Trump campaign also announced that another $6 million had been raised for outside groups supporting a rematch against Biden in the 2024 election.
Trump has been trying to close the fundraising gap with Biden, and in April, his campaign and the Republican National Committee raised more money than Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee for the first time.
The Trump campaign announced this a week ago, and the Republican National Committee raised a staggering $141 million in May, thanks in part to former President Trump’s recently concluded criminal trial.
Former President Trump appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Poole)
President Trump is the first former and current president in U.S. history to be convicted of all 34 felony counts at trial.
The former president’s campaign noted that in the first 24 hours after the verdict, it and the Republican National Committee raised nearly $53 million, which was added to May’s total.
The Biden campaign has also used Trump’s ruling to raise funds, with a source telling Fox News that “the 24 hours after the ruling were one of the most fundraising 24 hours the Biden campaign has had since launching its campaign.”
While Trump’s California fundraising was backed by big-time Republican donors, including tech investors and hedge fund giants, Biden’s fundraising on Saturday is being spearheaded by the Democratic Party’s Hollywood establishment.
This isn’t surprising: The entertainment industry, which generously donated funds to the campaigns of Presidents Clinton and Obama, has a long history of being known for its Democratic leanings.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and President Biden. (Getty Images)
Biden, 81, lacks the close ties to Hollywood enjoyed by his Democratic predecessors but still has the ability to draw an audience.
“Any Democratic presidential candidate can raise a lot of money in California, but the incumbent president has a huge advantage: When he walks into a room, it’s packed with cash,” Pitney said.
Biden’s fundraising in the Los Angeles entertainment world was delayed by a major strike by two Hollywood unions representing film and television writers and actors between May and November last year.
But the president has begun making up for lost time with big fundraisers in December hosted by famed directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, and Saturday’s big fundraiser was organized by Biden campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, a media mogul and Democratic rainmaker.
Katzenberg also organized a major fundraiser with Biden, Obama and Clinton at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall in March, which raised $26 million.
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have enlisted the help of many entertainment stars and well-known performers as the president seeks a second term.
Among those lending a hand is Robert De Niro, the famous actor who headlined a Biden campaign press conference outside a New York City courthouse on the final day of President Trump’s trial.
The press conference became a talking point after De Niro, who has played gangsters in classic films such as “The Godfather Part II” and “Goodfellas,” yelled “you guys are gangsters” as Trump supporters nearby yelled abuse at him.
Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars series, recently showed up unannounced in the White House briefing room to praise the president and call Biden “Joe Bye-One Kenobi.”
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Spielberg has worked with the Democratic National Committee on its storytelling efforts, and Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer campaigned alongside Vice President Kamala Harris during a recent election rally in battleground state Michigan.
Trump held his final California fundraiser last weekend in an upscale neighborhood in Newport Beach, California, which also featured veteran actor Jon Voight, but he is spending this weekend in Michigan, where he is scheduled to hold several events, including a roundtable discussion at a church in northwest Detroit.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, react to his motorcade during a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, on June 8, 2024. (Reuters/David Swanson)
The Trump campaign argued that while the former president would meet with “ordinary Americans,” “Biden will attend lavish Hollywood fundraisers with his elitist, naive celebrity benefactors who own him.”
Trump’s campaign and Republican allies also criticized the president for skipping a Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland this weekend to attend a fundraiser in California. Vice President Kamala Harris is representing the U.S. at the peace talks.
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