Biden Re-election War Chest Swells With Nearly $100M In Donations For Late 2023; POTUS Is “Kicking Butt” In Fundraising, Jeffrey Katzenberg Tells ‘Morning Joe’ – Update
UPDATE: Joe Biden’s reelection campaign raised almost $100 million in the most recent quarter, helped in part by a huge haul during a Los Angeles fundraising swing in December.
The campaign said that it raised more than $97 million for the campaign and the Democratic party during the October to December time frame. That exceeds the amount raised in the second and third quarters of 2023, when around $72 million was raised in each of those time frames.
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The Biden campaign also said that it had $117 million in cash on hand, the highest by any Democratic candidate at this point in the cycle.
Biden’s coffers got a boost from Hollywood donors, when he trekked to California for his first Los Angeles fundraising swing since announcing his reelection bid. That trip raised more than $15 million, according to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is serving as campaign co-chair.
TJ Ducklo, senior adviser to the campaign, said in a statement, “While most of the Republicans have not yet announced their fundraising numbers, we fully expect to lap them. Several times.”
Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who is competing to be the clear alternative to Donald Trump in today’s Iowa caucuses, raised $24 million in the latest quarter. Other candidates have not announced their totals. The campaign fundraising reports are due on Jan. 31.
The Biden campaign said that the average contribution was $41.88 and that 97% of the contributions were under $200.
The Biden campaign has set up a joint fundraising committee with the DNC and state parties, allowing for the collection of much larger contributions. The Biden Victory Fund can accept contributions up to $929,600 from an individual donor.
Katzenberg is in Des Moines today to join Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) in a press conference to counter the media coverage of the Republican caucus, per the campaign.
Earlier, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Katzenberg said that “when you listen to the pundits and the polls, and then you actually see the results of fundraising, it could not be more disparate.”
He added, “At this moment at this time on the fundraising side, Joe Biden is kicking butt. You could not ask for a better outcome. You could not ask for momentum.”
He also addressed concerns over Biden’s campaign. “I come from Hollywood. In the movie making world, everybody has an opinion. Everybody knows better than you. Everybody second guesses. I take all of that honestly with a grain of salt. Maybe what that does, and I see the positive in it, is it creates urgency, and I think that urgency is a very effective and important tool that actually works to our benefit.”
"At this moment, on the fundraising side, Joe Biden is kicking butt. You couldn't ask for a better outcome; you couldn't ask for more momentum."
— Jeffrey Katzenberg on the fundraising success and its impact on the campaign's momentum. https://t.co/FZiU4bExUg— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) January 15, 2024
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