Wall Street’s biggest Democratic allies are holding all-hands Zoom calls to drum up financial support for Kamala Harris, sources told The Washington Post.
Avenue Capital CEO Marc Lasry, Lazard President Ray Maguire, Centerview co-founder Blair Effron, Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp and C Street co-founder Brian Mathis are among the city’s top financial players who will be mingling with about 40 other prominent Wall Street heavyweights on a conference call on Wednesday at 3 p.m., according to people familiar with the matter.
The vice president has received a major boost since President Joe Biden said Sunday he won’t seek reelection in November, pledging to donate an astounding $100 million. According to her campaign.
But many of Harris’ most pragmatic supporters told The Washington Post they expect and are preparing for a close vote between her and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“The fight with Harris is now a real fight, and a lot of people who were on the sidelines are starting to get involved,” said one source involved in organizing the call.
The source added that he plans to donate a seven-figure sum once the initial wave of support subsides and “the fight”, in his words, begins.
Wall Street’s push to back Harris has pitted bankers against prominent Silicon Valley billionaires, including Tesla founder Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and David Sachs, who have voiced their support in the opposite direction and backed Trump Vance.
Musk has pledged to personally donate more than $100 million to the Trump campaign over the coming months.
Wall Street sources told The Post that while Kamala supports more regulation and higher taxes, she is gaining support by appearing more stable and trustworthy than the Republican vice presidential nominee.
“Wall Street doesn’t like Trump’s impulsive personality and lack of predictability,” said one fund manager.
“They like moderate and predictable. If she wins and the House and Senate are in Republican hands, it will be business as usual.”
Lasry, who runs a hedge fund and is part-owner of the NBA team Milwaukee Bucks, has been a major fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidates, hosting fundraisers for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Barack Obama in 2012 and introducing the candidates to other prominent New York investors.
Lasry and Efron served on Harris’ finance committee during her 2020 presidential run.
They switched their support to Biden after Ms. Harris dropped out of the campaign, but unlike LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, they have remained quiet in recent months about whether they will fundraise for Biden during this election.
Hoffman, in particular, has switched his support from Biden to Harris and has publicly pledged to donate money to her campaign.
