NEW YORK — President Joe Biden’s reelection marketing campaign is getting some big-name fundraising assist Monday from Broadway’s high stars.
With members of the Writers Guild of America and actors from SAG-AFTRA on strike, Biden is avoiding Hollywood for now and turning to the theater, with Sara Bareilles, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt amongst these scheduled to seem at a fundraising live performance on behalf of the president.
Theatrical work within the U.S. is overseen and contracted by the Actors’ Equity Association, whose some 51,000 American actors and stage managers stay on the job.
Both Biden and first girl Jill Biden will attend the occasion, with tickets starting from $250 to $7,500. Biden will even participate in one other non-public fundraiser in Manhattan on Monday.
Biden, who is ready to handle the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, arrived in New York on Sunday night so he may squeeze within the fundraisers as the tip of the quarter for federal election reporting on fundraising nears. The early arrival additionally allowed him to attend a birthday celebration for one in all his grandchildren at a swanky downtown restaurant.
Writers have been on strike for 4 1/2 months over points together with pay, job safety and regulating using synthetic intelligence. SAG-AFTRA members went on strike on July 14.
Southern California, the house of extraordinary wealth and the engine of the movie and tv business, has traditionally served as an ATM for the Democratic Party.
Since at the least Bill Clinton, Democratic presidents have cultivated intimate ties with highly effective figures within the Hollywood leisure business. Biden himself raised roughly $1 million throughout an early 2020 marketing campaign fundraiser on the residence of Michael Smith and James Costos, a former HBO govt. That occasion was attended by former DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, now a Biden marketing campaign co-chair.
The ongoing actors and writers strike has floor that to a halt. At least for now.
Biden is probably the most vocally pro-union president in a long time, and is conscious of staying on the appropriate aspect of labor, a key constituency. As lengthy because the strike goes on, he has been suggested by Katzenberg to steer clear, in accordance with three individuals with direct data of the steerage who insisted on anonymity to debate inner planning particulars.
Biden has stored a tepid fundraising schedule since asserting he reelection marketing campaign in April, worrying some donors who imagine the president wants to start out stockpiling huge quantities of money now for the brutal marketing campaign that lies forward. Still, marketing campaign officers say they’re elevating loads of cash throughout big-dollar occasions –- simply not wherever close to Los Angeles.
“Joe Biden is the most pro-labor president that I can recall in my lifetime. He is true to his word on that,” mentioned Chris Korge, who serves a twin function as finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in addition to the Biden Victory Fund, the chief fundraising committee for Biden’s reelection. “The president will decide when is the right time to go, but it’s not impacting our fundraising ability at all.”
Some Biden allies fear that point is losing. And they notice Biden may nonetheless increase cash from southern California donors who aren’t affiliated with the leisure business.
Even that would show perilous. The potential of a picket line forming exterior the gates of a multimillion-dollar residence would current made-for-TV fodder that may solely serve to underscore the fact that even a pro-labor president should increase money from rich tycoons who’ve way more in widespread with Hollywood studio heads than rank-and-file union members. Add to that the truth that Katzenberg is himself a former studio head, and continues to be seen by many as an extension of the Hollywood aristocracy.
“You’re running a risk. Raising money at a hotel, or somebody’s home in LA, enlists the possibility you could have demonstrators outside. That would make the whole thing look negative,” mentioned Mickey Kantor, a former U.S. commerce secretary who served as chairman of Clinton’s 1992 marketing campaign. “It’s probably the only decision (Biden) could make. Why would you make a controversy you don’t need to?”
Biden and the DNC raised greater than $72 million for his reelection within the 10 weeks after he introduced his 2024 candidacy, his marketing campaign introduced in July. It was a powerful however not a document efficiency by an incumbent.
Former President Donald Trump ’s marketing campaign raised greater than $35 million for his White House bid throughout the second fundraising quarter, practically double what he raised throughout the first three months of the yr. Trump stays the GOP front-runner regardless of dealing with indictments in 4 totally different jurisdictions.
Others set to carry out at Monday’s Broadway fundraiser embody Annaleigh Ashford, Alex Edelman, Josh Gad, Christopher Jackson, LaChanze, Ruthie Ann Miles, Leslie Odom Jr., Andrew Rannells, Aaron Tveit and Betsy Wolfe.
Thomas Kail will direct, with music supervision by Alex Lacamoire. Additional contributors for the occasion embody Andy Blankenbuehler, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and Amanda Green.
Biden will flip his consideration to diplomacy on Tuesday and Wednesday on the annual gathering of world leaders on the U.N. After his Wednesday diplomatic engagements, Biden will squeeze in two extra fundraisers in New York earlier than returning to Washington.
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Slodysko reported from Washington.
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