WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is ramping up his re-election effort this week with four fundraisers in the San Francisco area as his campaign builds its coffers and lays the strategic groundwork for 2024.
In the latter half of June, the Biden campaign will have more than 20 fundraisers that will include the president, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second runner-up Douglas Emhoff, according to a person involved in the travel plans of Biden who insisted on anonymity to discuss the schedule. .
More than half of the fundraisers are with the president, who will also travel to New York, Maryland and Illinois. Biden addressed his campaign issues at a fundraising event Friday in Connecticut, saying he aims to do more to tell voters about his legislative successes with infrastructure, computer chip production and programs to respond to the climate change, among other policies.
“There’s a lot we’ve done,” Biden said Friday. “We just have to let a lot of people know that we’ve done it and be straight with people. Be as straight as we can.”
The fundraising blitz follows Biden’s first campaign rally on Saturday in Philadelphia, where he drew support from key unions: The event highlighted a key constituency in the largest population center in a critical battleground state . It was intended as an early show of enthusiasm for Biden’s campaign and a place for him to interact directly with voters before spending much of the rest of the month meeting with deep-pocketed benefactors.
The flurry of pledges comes before the end of the fundraising quarter at the end of the month, and Biden’s campaign finance report in July will provide the first test of Democratic donors’ enthusiasm for his re-election effort.
Biden, unlike Trump and other 2024 GOP candidates, has not revealed any clues about his fundraising since declaring his candidacy in April. And his campaign launch was timed to avoid having to file a campaign finance report for the first quarter, a historically difficult period for fundraising.
For the first time in a US election, Biden has joint fundraising agreements with all 50 state Democratic parties and the Washington, DC branch, an arrangement that can help maximize donations while minimizing expenses in the early months of the campaign It’s part of a broader effort to unite a diverse Democratic coalition behind Biden as Republicans face what could be a big and divisive primary.
“As MAGA Republicans burn through cash in their primaries, competing over whose agenda is the most extreme, the president’s campaign will seize the opportunity to raise significant resources,” said Biden’s campaign manager, Julie C. Rodriguez, referring to Donald Trump’s “Make America”. Great Again” slogan.
Separately, Rodriguez is traveling across the United States to meet with donors, local officials and community leaders to help align the coalition. Along with other campaign officials, the tour begins in Atlanta and will include Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis.
Not all of Biden’s time in San Francisco will be spent on the campaign trail. On Monday, she will go to the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto, California. He plans to tour the coastal wetland and announce $600 million for projects to address climate change, according to the White House.
