WASHINGTON – United States President Joe Biden is kicking off a three-day, star-studded fund-raising trip in California on Dec 8 that a top campaign official has boasted will rake in a record amount of cash for his 2024 re-election effort.
The trip comes a day after the Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against Mr Biden’s son, Hunter, accusing him of failing to pay US$1.4 million (S$1.9 million) in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle.
California – and the deep-pocketed entertainment industry – has long served as a major funding source for Democrats, but long actors and screenwriters strikes had a chilling effect on fund-raising.
The end of the labour unrest has unlocked pent-up dollars, said Mr Jeffrey Katzenberg, a movie mogul and campaign co-chair who has emerged as an influential voice in Mr Biden’s re-election effort.
“It will be the most successful day and a half for the campaign to date and likely one of the most successful day and a half’s prior to a general election,” Mr Katzenberg said.
Mr Biden will participate in two Los Angeles fundraisers that will include directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, and musicians Barbra Streisand and Lenny Kravitz. The California swing is part of a blitz of at least nine fundraisers Mr Biden will hold before the end of December.
The fundraisers in California and an earlier round in Boston are expected to raise at least US$15 million, according to a source familiar with the events.
Mr Katzenberg, who is helping organise one of the fundraisers, said the final number was still fluid.
“The number is big. I know that,” said Mr Katzenberg, who co-founded DreamWorks Animation.
Mr Biden will briefly stop in Las Vegas on Dec 8 to announce US$8.2 billion in funding for 10 new passenger rail projects, a senior administration official said.
The projects, funded by the US$1 trillion infrastructure law, include US$3 billion for the nation’s first high-speed rail line, which will run through California, according to a senior administration official.
Mr Biden will also announce a US$3 billion investment to help create another high-speed rail corridor between Las Vegas and South Carolina, along with money for projects in North Carolina, Virginia and Washington DC, the official said.
Mr Biden has spent the last year criss-crossing the country announcing new funding tethered to his signature pieces of legislation – the infrastructure law, the Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
It is part of a bid to boost his poll ratings and convince voters he is the right person to lead the US economy, but recent public opinion polls show the effort has had little success. REUTERS
