Major Democratic donors devise plans to pressure Biden to step aside

WASHINGTON - After several days of quiet griping and hoping that US President Joe Biden would abandon his re-election campaign on his own, many wealthy Democratic donors are trying to take matters into their own hands.

Wielding their fortunes as both carrot and stick, donors have undertaken a number of initiatives to pressure Mr Biden to step down from the top of the ticket and help lay the groundwork for an alternate candidate.

The efforts – some coordinated, some conflicting and others still nascent – expose a remarkable and growing rift between the party’s contributor class and its standard-bearer that could have an impact on down ballot races, whether or not the donors influence Mr Biden’s decision.

The President on July 3 reaffirmed his commitment to stay in the race, amid criticism of

his weak debate performance last week.

But that has not placated donors or strategists who worry that he cannot win in November.

A group of them is working to raise as much as US$100 million (S$135 million) for a sort of escrow fund, called the Next Generation PAC, that would be used to support a replacement candidate.

If Mr Biden does not step aside, the money could be used to help downballot candidates, according to people close to the effort.

Supporters of

potential replacements like Vice-President Kamala Harris

are jockeying to position their preferred successor.

Other donors are threatening to withhold contributions not only from Mr Biden, but also from other Democratic groups, unless Mr Biden bows out.

There is a separate movement to steer money to candidates for lower offices. And financial supporters are urging elected officials at all levels to publicly pressure Mr Biden to withdraw, signalling support for those who follow through.

Some major donors, like

Mr Reed Hastings, have gone public

with calls for Mr Biden to stand down.

Mr Gideon Stein, a donor and operative with deep connections in Democratic politics, said his family was withholding US$3.5 million in planned donations to non-profits and political organisations active in the presidential race unless Mr Biden stepped aside.

He said that virtually every major donor he had spoken with believed that “a new ticket is in the best interest of defeating Donald Trump”.

Ms Abigail Disney, a filmmaker who is an heir to the Disney fortune, said in an email exchange that Mr Biden’s campaign and committees supporting it – including the Democratic National Committee, super political action committees and non-profit groups – “will not receive another dime from me until they bite the bullet and replace Biden at the top of the ticket.”

Ms Disney, who has been a major Democratic donor, added, “Biden is a good man who has served his country well, but the stakes are far too high to allow timidity to determine our course of action.”

Mr Damon Lindelof, a Hollywood producer who has donated more than US$115,000 to Democrats this election cycle and who attended Mr Biden’s fund-raiser in Hollywood in June, published an essay in Deadline urging what he called a “DEMbargo” of Mr Biden and other Democratic candidates until or unless Mr Biden stands down.

Mr Lindelof said in a text message exchange: “No one is eager to donate to anyone until the proverbial dust settles.”

The financial pressure campaign comes as Mr Biden and his team have sought to reassure Democratic donors and officials that he is up to the task, privately telling key allies that he knows the coming days are crucial and acknowledging that he may not be able to salvage his candidacy.

If Mr Biden forges ahead, it could set up a dramatic impasse with a major donor base at the moment it is most needed: when the race enters its heavy-spending home stretch.

While Mr Biden narrowly outraised Donald Trump in June, it is not clear if he erased the financial advantage that Trump and his party held over Mr Biden and his party at the beginning of June.

A surge in donations to Mr Biden’s campaign after the debate was powered mostly by online donations, which tend to come from smaller donors, though he also attended a handful of preplanned fund-raising receptions with major donors.

And not all big donors are jumping ship. Some of the ticket’s wealthy backers, even those who want a different candidate, said they were still writing cheques, if begrudgingly.

Still, some Democrats are concerned about the rate of big-money fund raising. No fund-raisers feature Mr Biden until a Denver event at the end of July, according to a recent list of events distributed to major Biden donors, although more may be added.

But many big donors are seeking a way to move on and build a financial infrastructure for a post-Biden campaign.

“This is something unique,” said Mr James Carville, a long-time Democratic strategist.

He added that he had encouraged donors to refuse fund-raising calls from Democratic campaign groups and that the unfolding situation differed from donor revolts in past campaigns, when contributors would complain but, “for the most part, you sit down and you listen, and you take notes, and then you just tell them ‘yes’ and then do nothing, and everything is fine”.

Many anxious Mr Biden mega donors are staying quiet publicly, skittish about being seen as being involved in a big-money coup.

Instead, several said in interviews that they were shifting their giving to buffer candidates for Congress and state offices from damage that could result from concerns about the top of the ticket.

“You have to keep funding the machine,” said Mr Andrew Beck III, a retired finance executive who has donated more than US$100,000 to Mr Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Mr Beck, who goes by Trey, signed a statement released on July 3 by a coalition of business executives urging Mr Biden to stand down, and also has worked privately to persuade Democratic elected officials to publicly call for that result.

But of all the efforts by wealthy Democrats, perhaps none is as ambitious as the Next Generation PAC, which plans to create a holding account to support a successor to Mr Biden atop the Democratic ticket.

Multiple proposals to set aside some money for a Democratic candidate not named Joe Biden have gained steam among leaders on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

The new political action committee effort is spearheaded by Mr Mike Novogratz, the cryptocurrency billionaire who backed Mr Dean Phillips in the Democratic primary; his aides; and Hollywood filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, according to three people briefed on the plan, with likely support from the Movement Voter Project.

Next Generation PAC, which had not filed federal paperwork as at the afternoon of July 4, has told donors it is seeking to raise between US$50 million and US$100 million but is not planning to officially start until some money is in.

This anybody-but-Biden group intends to hold on to the money until either Mr Biden steps down as the nominee or the Democratic National Convention concludes, according to materials distributed to donors and reviewed by The New York Times.

If Mr Biden were to leave, the PAC would spend money on ads for the new nominee and against Mr Trump. If Mr Biden remains the nominee, the group says, it will spend the cash by helping other Democrats.

People connected to the Biden team have caught wind of this stealth project and tried to talk some involved out of joining it, according to one of the people. The donors and strategists did not return requests for comment.

Some of these efforts could redound to the benefit of Ms Harris, who has faced scepticism from some major donors but whose allies are now privately consolidating some support from ultra-rich donors and their big-money operatives, according to interviews and internal memos.

Mr Raymond McGuire, president of the financial firm Lazard, called Ms Harris “singularly capable of bringing this nation together by crossing every divide”.

“Her candidacy is compelling,” he said. For now, it does not exist. NYTIMES