Vice President Kamala Harris is already facing a wave of support from big donors after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, with help from fundraisers who backed her in past elections, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shortly after Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Harris, big donors who helped raise money for Harris’ loss in the 2020 Democratic primary and her 2016 Senate victory were quickly mobilized to begin reaching out to wealthy donors, said the people, who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity.
“We’ve been in contact with many of her supporters from New York to California and are working on fundraising,” said John Hennes, who served as national finance chairman for the vice president during her 2020 campaign. “Today we’ve had over 200 text messages, calls and emails from people wanting to host events or make donations.”
One of the party’s top fundraisers now planning to back Harris is Marc Lasry, a veteran Wall Street executive who helped raise money for the vice president when he faced Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary and later raised money for Biden when he defeated Trump during that election, according to a person familiar with the matter.
But it wasn’t just big donors who reacted to Biden’s announcement. Progressive giving platforms Act Blue The company initially said it had raised $27.5 million from small donors within five hours of Biden endorsing Harris. raised Over $45 million.
Shortly after announcing the endorsement, the Biden campaign filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to change its name to “Harris Campaign.”
But the reinvigoration of some of the party’s major donors was particularly significant because several of them had announced they would hold back on funding Biden’s candidate after his disastrous loss to former President Donald Trump in the June 27 debate.
Venture capitalist Reid Hoffman plans to donate more money to Harris’ candidacy during the 2024 presidential election than he did when he supported Biden over Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter. Hoffman has donated at least $10 million to a political action committee supporting Biden so far this election, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Hoffman approved “I’m so grateful to Hoffman for his support,” Harris said in a social media post. A spokesman for Hoffman declined to comment.
Before Biden withdrew, Ms. Harris’ allies had been planning a fundraiser in the Hamptons in early August that would have featured Vice President Doug Emhoff, the people said. Some donors had removed email invitations out of frustration with Mr. Biden, the people said.
The event, to be held in the Hamptons next month, is expected to likely sell out as many donors turn out to support Harris, according to a person familiar with the event.
“It’s time for us all to unite behind Kamala Harris and defeat Donald Trump,” Alexander Soros, the son of Democratic megadonor George Soros, said in a social media post on Sunday after Biden withdrew.
But the support of big donors for Harris is not widespread across the Democratic Party, suggesting she still has work to do to win them over.
Stewart Bynum Jr., chairman of Choice Hotels and a major Biden donor, told CNBC he’s staying on the sidelines and isn’t planning on backing Harris because he thinks the upcoming convention, scheduled to take place in Chicago in August, should be a tightly contested battle with other potential candidates also having a chance to lead the party.
Another veteran Biden fundraiser said a “mini-primary” should be held in the coming weeks leading up to the convention for Harris and other candidates vying for the nomination.
But for Harris, the quick buy-in from some donors is a sign that she can bolster the more than $95 million campaign coffers she will control after Biden drops out of the race.
Anna Massolia, research manager at Open Secrets, a campaign finance research center, said Harris will likely have ready access to about $96 million in contributions from the Biden campaign.
“The general consensus from most people I’ve spoken to is that she has access to funding,” Massoglia said in an interview with CNBC.
Massoglia noted that some conservative election lawyers believe Harris would need to officially become the Democratic nominee before she could have full access to campaign finances, but added that that represents only a “small fraction” of the lawyers’ views.
Still, until the dispute over whether Harris needs to become a formal candidate is resolved by election lawyers, her access to campaign funds remains an open question. The same goes for contributions from the DNC and joint fundraising committees, Massoglia said.
But the scenario becomes more complicated if Harris doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, in which case her campaign could shift the money to a PAC or another type of political committee to spend on supporting a new candidate.
Massoglia said there are some drawbacks to this option: PACs would charge more for advertising and would not be allowed to coordinate with candidates.
An alternative would be to refund donors and ask them to give to a different committee, but that would add risk that donors might decide not to give to the new campaign, Massoglia said.
