President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses will fete about 150 of the Democratic Party's top donors in Washington Friday evening as they lay the groundwork for their reelection campaign, which is expected to need to raise well over $1 billion.
The summit is not a fundraiser and it was not clear how many of the attendees had yet cut checks to Biden's campaign. Rather, it is billed as a strategy session for high-dollar donors and fundraisers who will tap their networks to help fund Biden's campaign over the next 18 months.
In addition to a Friday evening dinner, top Biden advisers and his campaign co-chairs will brief attendees on Saturday on the campaign's strategy ahead of the 2024 race to “fund winning campaigns from the top of the ticket on down," the campaign said.
Some Democratic lawmakers, including governors who have proven to be prolific party fundraisers — Wes Moore of Maryland, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Gavin Newsom of California — are expected to be in attendance at the swanky Salamander Hotel in Washington, according to the campaign.
Biden, in his remarks, was expected to touch on the themes that are undergirding his campaign, from his accomplishments in office to “MAGA Republicans” whom he argues are fighting “to take away women’s right to choose, ban books, and gut Social Security and Medicare,” the campaign said.
A person familiar with the matter said invitees all bundled at least $1 million for Biden’s 2020 campaign. Invitations for the event went out only late last week, so some donors meeting that description were not expected to make it because of scheduling conflicts.
Some donors have groused about inconsistent outreach from Biden's White House, and the weekend summit was an effort to smooth over tensions as the reelect gets underway.
Biden's campaign has not reported how much it has raised since he formally declared his candidacy on Tuesday morning, but aides said they are confident they will be able to top the nearly $1.1 billion he raised for the 2020 effort.
