Donors reportedly told Future Forward, the Biden campaign’s largest super PAC, that roughly $90 million in donations would be frozen if President Joe Biden remains the Democratic presidential nominee.
Two anonymous sources familiar with the conversations The New York Times The frozen donations included several “eight-figure donations.”
An adviser to Future Forward, headed by former Democratic activist Chauncey McLean, reportedly told the outlet that he was “hopeful” that donors who had frozen their contributions would return “once the current uncertainty” surrounding the Democratic presidential nominee is over.
This comes just weeks after Biden’s lackluster performance in a debate with former President Donald Trump on June 27, during which Biden appeared frozen, his voice raspy and he struggled to deliver his prepared closing remarks.
News of the donation freeze also came a day after Biden held a solo press conference on Thursday in which he mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as Trump and misrepresented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Calif.) on Thursday night, with Jeffries expressing House Democrats’ concerns about Biden remaining in the presidential race.
The two sources did not tell the outlet which donors had frozen the roughly $90 million in donations.
The people briefed on the frozen funds would not say which individual donors had rescinded pledged checks, but the total is estimated to be around $90 million or more. It was unclear how much of the money went to the Future Forward super PAC or to the nonprofit arm of the group, which has been running ads in key battleground states. Another person close to the group said the super PAC is avoiding making any big strategic decisions until it knows more about who will top the list of candidates.
Biden’s debate performance has led several Democrats to call on him to withdraw from the presidential race and “step away.” Some donors, including Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, have also called on Biden to “step away.”
Recently, George Clooney The New York TimesTrump, who hosted a star-studded fundraising event for Biden a few weeks ago, made it clear he didn’t believe the Democrats could win the election with Biden at the top.
