Top tickets for the first Biden Hollywood fundraiser since the strikes ended are approaching $1 million

Top tickets for the first Biden Hollywood fundraiser since the strikes ended are approaching $1 million

California politics, 2024 elections, jobs, labor and workplace, homepage news

Ziema Mehta

November 30, 2023

Next week’s Hollywood fundraiser for President Biden, his first in-person soiree

here

As the end of the entertainment industry strikes has dried up the traditional source of campaign cash, it is expected to attract major donors who are each spending nearly $930,000 in support of the Democratic leader’s bid for re-election.

Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will address the gathering of the glitterati, including directors

Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, producers

Shonda Rhimes and Peter Chernin and former studio chief Jim Gianopulos on the evening of December. 8, according to an invitation received by The Times.

Besides the Hollywood elites, other celebrities are among those taking the lead

S

billionaire businessman and failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, former ambassadors, technology leaders, corporate honchos and prominent lawyers.

“No one is leaving anything to chance in this election cycle,” said veteran Democratic consultant Sue Burnside. “People tried to be respectful to the workers and not undermine their efforts to get a living wage. …But now that the strikes have been resolved, they see an opportunity to put some of that studio money to good use to get the Democrats elected. .”

California and the entertainment industry have been a financial bedrock for both parties, but even more so for Democrats, who received nearly two-thirds of the $43.7 million that television, film and music industry workers gave to presidential campaigns and outside groups in 2020 have donated, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data conducted for The Times by the nonpartisan nonprofit Open Secrets, which tracks election finances.

The Hollywood work stoppage brought one of Los Angeles’ most important industries to a standstill and left thousands of people without work. It affected businesses across the region, from dry cleaners and florists to restaurants and newspapers. Writers went on strike for 148 days and actors for 118 days this year over disputes over pay, benefits, revenue streams and the use of artificial intelligence.

The strikes also had major consequences

influence

about political fundraising. According to Open Secrets’ analysis, donors in these sectors contributed $5.4 million to federal campaigns in the first nine months of 2023. Four years earlier, during the same period in a presidential election cycle, they had contributed $24.6 million.

Democrats, including Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other party leaders, avoided raising money long term

time Hollywood boosters for several reasons. They would almost certainly have had to cross a picket line,

bee

horror for

for

liberal voters. Big-dollar donors were also absent from writing large checks during negotiations with unions.

This Friday’s event will take place at a secret location in Los Angeles, part of a multi-day event

two days

Biden swings in Southern California. It may be reminiscent of the star-studded fundraiser that saw then-President Obama raise nearly $15 million dollars at a rally hosted by Wolfgang Puck.

soiree reception

at actor George Clooney’s home in 2012.

Donors can contribute up to $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that will make contributions to the president’s reelection campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties, according to the invitation.

One bit of political intrigue at the event is Caruso’s role as co-host. The long

The Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Los Angeles last year, losing to Karen Bass.

Although wealthy media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is not listed on the invitation as hosting Biden’s fundraiser, he is co-chair of the president’s reelection campaign and deeply involved in his visit to Los Angeles and his broader bid to win another term in the election. to win. White House.

Katzenberg spent $2 million supporting Bass in the mayoral race. The animosity between the media mogul and Caruso is palpable after Caruso lost. Katzenberg was quoted in Vanity Fair as being furious with the businessman who continued to give reporters tours of homeless camps.

Caruso, you have $5 billion, why do you keep taking people to Skid Row? Katzenberg said, according to the magazine. You just threw away $104 million on a failed campaign. Why not spend that on the homeless on Skid Row?

Their shared support for Biden is therefore remarkable. It also helps Caruso burnish his relatively new Democratic credentials.

“I think this is a smart move by Caruso to show throughout his political journey that he is firmly in the Democrat camp and prove that the way he spends his money is the best way to do it,” he said. Bill Burton. , a Democratic strategist who worked on Bass’ campaign. He also said men uniting in support of Biden are motivated by the “existential threat” former President Trump poses if he wins the White House next year.

Other presenters at the fundraiser include Bob Tuttle, a Republican who served as then-President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Kingdom; John Emerson, Obama’s ambassador to Germany; James Costas, Obama’s ambassador to Spain and Andorra, and his partner Michael Smith, who redecorated the White House for the Obamas; Wendy Schmidt, wife of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; StubHub co-founder Eric Baker; Russell Goldsmith, former CEO of City National Bank; Hyatt Hotel with Matthew Pritzker; and Bui Simon, 1998 Miss Universe.

Times staff writer Courtney Subramanian contributed to this report from Washington, DC

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