Biden, Trump head to Southern California in June for big-dollar fundraisers
President Biden and former President Trump are heading to Southern California in June for big-dollar fundraisers.
The former president arrives first for an event June 7 in Beverly Hills, where top tickets go for $250,000 per person, according to an invitation obtained by The Times. The following day, he will headline a fundraiser in Newport Beach with donors being asked to contribute up to $100,000, and with multimillionaire tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey among the hosts.
The locations of the events were not included on the invitations, but Luckey hosted a major fundraiser for the former president in the final weeks of the 2020 election at his Lido Isle estate.
A cash-strapped President Trump stopped in California to raise money 16 days before election day, appearing at a high-dollar Newport Beach fundraiser.
The following weekend, Biden will appear at a major fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles that will include appearances by former President Obama and celebrities George Clooney and Julia Roberts, according to a source who is raising money for the event and requested anonymity to speak candidly.
The event, first reported by NBC News, comes after Biden’s West Coast swing last week that raised $10 million. The top donation amounts were not disclosed by the fundraiser or the campaign. But at a December event in Holmby Hills, donors were asked to contribute up to $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that supports the president’s reelection campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.
Hours before the event, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered to call for a cease-fire and for the U.S. to end financial and military aid to Israel.
In 2012, Clooney hosted a fundraiser for Obama at his Studio City house that raised $15 million for his reelection effort, believed at the time to be the largest one-night campaign haul.
Despite California’s overwhelming Democratic tilt, the state’s donors bankroll presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle. Biden and Trump have both raised more in the state for their reelection bids than anywhere else, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Biden has raised $21 million from Californians through March 31, while Trump has raised $11.1 million.
The disparity reflects Biden’s overall fundraising advantage over Trump. However, the president’s reelection bid is challenging, as seen in a poll released Monday that shows Trump leading Biden in five battleground states that are likely to decide the election.
The poll by the New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer found Biden losing support among young and minority voters because of the economy and the war in Gaza.
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