Major
Democratic Donors Devise Plans to Pressure Biden to Step Aside
The
president appears intent on remaining on the ballot, while wealthy donors are
discussing plans to put their money elsewhere.
A small but
vocal faction of Democratic Party donors is urging President Biden to withdraw
from the race, but he has said that he will not be pushed out.
Kenneth P.
Vogel Theodore Schleifer Lauren Hirsch
By Kenneth
P. Vogel, Theodore Schleifer and Lauren Hirsch
July 4, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/us/politics/biden-donors.html
After
several days of quiet griping and hoping that President 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 Wednesday 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 $100 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
down-ballot 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, signaling support for those who follow through. Some major
donors like Reed Hastings have gone public with calls for Mr. Biden to stand
down.
Gideon
Stein, a donor and operative with deep connections in Democratic politics, said
his family was withholding $3.5 million in planned donations to nonprofits and
political organizations 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.”
Abigail E.
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 PACs and nonprofit 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.”
Damon
Lindelof, a Hollywood producer who has donated more than $115,000 to Democrats
this election cycle and who attended Mr. Biden’s fund-raiser in Hollywood last
month, 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 homestretch.
While Mr. Biden narrowly outraised Donald J. Trump last month, it is not clear
if he erased the financial advantage that Mr. Trump and his party held over Mr.
Biden and his party at 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 checks, 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 the month, 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 James Carville, the longtime 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
Biden megadonors 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 Andrew E. Beck III, a retired finance executive
who has donated more than $100,000 to Mr. Biden’s campaign and the D.N.C. Mr.
Beck, who goes by Trey, signed a statement released Wednesday 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 PAC
effort is spearheaded by Mike Novogratz, the cryptocurrency billionaire who
backed Dean Phillips in the Democratic primary; his aides; and the 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 of Thursday afternoon, has told donors it is
seeking to raise between $50 million and $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
skepticism from some major donors but whose allies are now privately
consolidating some support from ultrarich donors and their big-money
operatives, according to interviews and internal memos.
Kamala
Harris smiles as she walks onto a stage covered in blue carpeting with blue
velvet drapes in the background. A large American flag hangs nearby
People close
to Ms. Harris have reached out to influential business leaders to assess how
she could go about building her donor base, according to two people familiar
with the outreach.
If Mr. Biden
were to step aside and be replaced by Ms. Harris, she could inherit the
campaign’s money, which stood at $212 million at the beginning of last month.
If another candidate were to become the nominee, the process could become more
complicated, potentially requiring the funds to be transferred to the D.N.C. or
an independent group.
Some
Democratic megadonors have told the Biden campaign directly that they are in
favor of a candidate swap, according to one fund-raiser who has relayed that
message. Others have asked where their money would go if he were to step down.
“We are
fully planning for President Biden to be the nominee, but the majority of the
money raised through the Biden Victory Fund goes to the D.N.C., which supports
all Democrats on the ballot,” one midlevel campaign staff member told a group
of donors, according to a person who shared the written message.
A few Harris
supporters are nevertheless ready to speak out publicly.
“We are
primed and ready to support a Harris ticket,” said Jon Henes, who led the
national finance committee of Ms. Harris’s 2020 campaign. Mr. Henes said he
supported Mr. Biden but that, if he opted not to run, “there is no question
that she’s ready to be president.”
Raymond J.
McGuire, the 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. As of now, it does not exist.
Kate Kelly
contributed reporting.
Kenneth P.
Vogel is based in Washington and investigates the intersection of money,
politics and influence. More about Kenneth P. Vogel
Theodore
Schleifer writes about campaign finance and the influence of billionaires in
American politics. More about Theodore Schleifer
Lauren
Hirsch joined The Times from CNBC in 2020, covering deals and the biggest
stories on Wall Street. More about Lauren Hirsch
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