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President Joe Biden will leave Washington for yet another visit to California ‘s deep-pocketed political donors as he seeks to build a war chest capable of competing with Donald Trump ‘s fundraising machine. He travels to the West Coast for the second time this month to swell campaign coffers already crammed with $130 million—the highest total ever amassed at this stage in the cycle. His first event is with a billionaire Israeli-American Hollywood mogul. Tickets reportedly cost up to $250,000, making it a tidy payday for Biden’s reelection effort.
Hours before he boarded Air Force One for the trip, his campaign and the Democratic Nation announced that they had collected $42 million in contributions during January from 422,000 donors. The trip is his third visit to California in a little more than two months for political events. He will arrive first in Los Angeles for a fundraising event. There will also be campaign stops in San Francisco and Los Altos Hills, with an official policy delivered near Los Angeles on Wednesday.
His first event is at the Santa Monica home of Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban, whose company introduced Power Rangers to the world. Forbes estimates he is worth $2.8 billion. However, his status as a vocal supporter of Israel could trigger protests from the progressive wing of Biden’s own party, who want the president to dial back his full-throated support for the Israeli assault on Gaza.
The Los Angeles Times said other hosts also have deep ties to the Jewish community, including Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, author of a book about her life as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and Nicole Mutchnik, vice chair of the Anti-Defamation League, which campaigns against antisemitism. It reported that tickets for the event cost up to $250,000. Pictured: Haim Saban.
The repeated swings through California, a state which is not even close to being competitive for Republicans, show how Biden needs to keep raising cash for what will be a tough match-up with Trump, who has mastered the art of tapping millions of small donors. In its Tuesday announcement the Biden campaign played up the importance of small donations, saying that 97 percent of its three million contributions were foe less than $200 a time.
Senior communications adviser TJ Ducklo said: ‘This haul will go directly to reaching the voters who will decide this election.’ At the start of the month, the president visited the Los Angeles home of Star Wars creator George Lucas, where he tapped rich donors who were in town for the Golden Globes.
National polls suggest that Biden trails the likely Republican nominee by about three or four points. He has gone on the offensive over comments made by Trump that appeared to undermine NATO, the alliance of Western nations that pledge mutual defense.
The campaign rolled out digital ads in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin highlight the former president’s threat to NATO nations. And Biden has also slammed House Republicans for blocking a bill that would have sent $60 billion in support to Ukraine for its defense against Russia.
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