US President Joe Biden walks to speak at the White House in Washington, July 1, 2024, after the US Supreme Court ruled on former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s request for immunity from federal prosecution for allegedly overturning the 2020 election.
Elisabeth Franz | Reuters
President Joe Biden is facing a rebellion from some of his own party’s wealthy donors, including: Disney The family’s fortune has said it will not give money to the Democratic Party until Biden withdraws from the presidential race following his disastrous debate defeat.
Abigail DisneyThe granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, co-founder of the Walt Disney Company, told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations to the party she has long supported until Biden withdraws. The president has said he has no plans to withdraw from the race despite calls for him to do so.
“I am considering ceasing all contributions to the party until a candidate to replace Biden comes out on top. This is reality, and no disrespect is intended. Biden is a good man and has served our country well, but the stakes are too high,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden does not step down, the Democrats will lose. I am absolutely certain of that. The consequences of a defeat would be truly devastating.”
Panic has gripped the Democratic Party ever since Biden’s poor performance in last week’s debate with former President Donald Trump. Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett called on Biden to drop out of the race, saying his performance in the debate proved to voters that he can’t take on Trump and reverse his lead in the polls.
The New York Times/Siena College vote This photo, taken after the debate, showed Biden trailing Trump among likely voters by six percentage points.
Representatives for the Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Abigail Disney is a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party. She donated $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate Political Action Committee in April, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The PAC has donated $35,000 to Democrats running for Congress, according to OpenSecrets data.
According to Open Secrets, Disney donated $150,000 to Planned Parenthood Votes, a PAC affiliated with the health care nonprofit, in 2014. The PAC has spent more than $400,000 on Democrats this election cycle, including $26,000 for Biden.
Disney has presented Vice President Kamala Harris as a strong alternative to Biden, arguing that she could defeat Trump.
“We have a great vice president, and if Democrats can tolerate her flaws even a tenth as much as we have tolerated Biden’s (let’s not get us wrong about how race and gender play into that inequality), and if Democrats can find a way to stop bickering and rally around her, we can win this election by a large margin,” Disney said.
She’s not the only one to pause donations until Biden leaves office: Moriah Foundation president Gideon Stein said the organization has decided to pause $3.5 million in donations that were meant to go to nonprofits and political groups connected to the presidential election.
“Joe Biden has been an extremely competent president, but unless he leaves office, my family and I will suspend more than $3 million in contributions to nonprofits and political organizations involved in presidential elections, except for the activities of some lower-tier candidates,” Stein said. “Nearly every major donor I have spoken to believes we need a new candidate to beat Donald Trump.”
Philanthropist and major Democratic donor Carla Jurvetson, in a conference call with donors as recently as Tuesday, favored pausing contributions until Biden leaves office and suggested she may eventually take such a step, according to a person with knowledge of her remarks, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about private conversations.
A spokesman for Jurvetson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Jurvetson is one of the top 50 donors nationwide this election cycle, giving more than $5 million to Democrats. Open SecretAccording to FEC records, she donated more than $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund during this election cycle.
Jurvetson donated more than $30 million to Democrats in 2020, according to the data.