President Joe Biden is visiting Boston on Tuesday as part of a weeklong fundraising tour throughout the country to boost his campaign finances before the year ends.
In Boston, the president will hold three campaign fundraisers throughout the day, concluding with an evening concert by James Taylor at the Shubert Theatre in downtown Boston.
At least nine fundraisers are scheduled for the president before the month ends, with the goal of raising millions of dollars.
On Friday, President Biden will travel to Los Angeles for a two-day trip to meet with wealthy donors, including tech executives, lawyers, politicians, and Hollywood stars.
The fundraising event on Friday will take place at the home of Michael Smith, a celebrity interior designer, and his partner, James Costos, a former HBO executive and former ambassador to Spain during the Obama administration.
Directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, as well as recording industry mogul David Geffen, are expected to attend the event. Musician Lenny Kravitz is scheduled to perform at the event. Other notable guests include Barbra Streisand and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“We’re putting in the work across our fundraising program and look forward to again outperforming the MAGA field,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Reuters.
Hollywood has traditionally been a major source of funding for the Democratic Party. In 2020, for example, Democrats received $163.6 million—88 percent of the total—in campaign contributions from the entertainment industry.
However, this year, the fundraising efforts have been hampered by strikes involving writers and actors in the entertainment industry. Hence, President Biden’s upcoming trip is aimed at regaining momentum in fundraising following the end of these strikes last month.
The president will continue his fundraising tour in Pennsylvania and Maryland next week.
During the third quarter, which ended on Sept. 30, President Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised more than $71 million for his reelection campaign, far more than his leading rival, former President Donald Trump, and other Republicans seeking the 2024 GOP nomination.
Despite President Biden’s low approval ratings and widespread concerns about his age, donors are eager to stand behind him, Mark Mellman, a political strategist and consultant, told The Epoch Times in an interview in October.
Liberal megadonor and billionaire George Soros was one of the donors who contributed $250,000 to President Biden’s campaign.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s 2024 campaign announced that it raised $45.5 million in the third quarter of 2023, even though the former president faces several indictments.
That was more than triple the $15 million that went to his nearest GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the United Nations, came in third, raising $11 million in the third quarter.
The Trump campaign hailed the fundraising totals as an “impressive testament” to the unwavering support for President Trump at the grassroots level.
The Biden campaign also saw an increase in grassroots donations, which accounted for more than half of its fundraising revenue in the third quarter.
“The success we’re seeing in fundraising this year is due in part to the last three years of DNC investments in our finance team and then our grassroots fundraising team,” Virginia McGregor, treasurer of the DNC, said on Oct. 6 at the party’s fall meeting in St. Louis.
Window for Democrats ‘Closing Pretty Quickly’
However, President Biden’s fundraising haul in the last quarter was far less than the record $125 million raised by President Trump and the Republican National Committee during the same period of his 2020 reelection campaign.“I think that is a fair comparison because both of them are incumbents—Trump was the incumbent in 2020 and Biden’s the incumbent today,” Republican political strategist Ford O'Connell told The Epoch Times.
Numerous polls show that the 46th president is struggling to win over U.S. voters with his economic agenda.
Recent polls also indicate that in a hypothetical general election matchup, former President Trump holds a lead over President Biden. Several surveys reveal that voters have greater trust in President Trump than in President Biden when it comes to addressing economic problems.
According to Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, some studies indicate people tend to form their perceptions of economic performance nearly six months before an election. Even if the economy improves in the months leading up to the election, altering people’s perceptions becomes far more challenging, Ms. Hult told The Epoch Times.
“So the window for the Democrats is closing pretty quickly.”
