President Biden kicked off a series of high-dollar campaign events with A-list celebrities on Tuesday as he traveled to Boston for a fundraising concert headlined by pop singer James Taylor, with tickets selling for roughly $7,500 a seat.
The concert, which will be held in Boston’s theater district, is part of a trio of fundraisers in the city aimed at boosting his reelection effort and the Democratic Party at large in 2024. He also attended separate fundraisers in the area hosted by advertising mogul and philanthropist Jack Connors Jr. and former U.S. ambassador to Spain, Alan Solomont.
On Friday, Mr. Biden is scheduled to fly to Los Angeles for another concert fundraiser, starring Lenny Kravitz. Other big celebrities expected to attend the event include directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, singer/actress Barbra Streisand and music mogul David Geffen.
The Friday concert will be at the home of celebrity interior designer Michael Smith and his partner, James Costos, a former HBO executive who was President Obama’s ambassador to Spain.
Next week, Mr. Biden is set to attend fundraising events in Maryland with Gov. Wes Moore and in Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel blasted Mr. Biden for hobnobbing with celebrities while Americans are held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. The president did not respond to reporters’ questions about the hostages Tuesday morning as he departed the White House.
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“Joe Biden is taking the day off to cozy up to his elite donors while Hamas is still holding as many as eight Americans hostage. His weak leadership has emboldened our enemies, and his misplaced priorities are disgraceful,” Mrs. McDaniel said.
The events stand in contrast to the image Mr. Biden projects as a product and champion of the middle class. Often boasting about his Pennsylvania birthplace, Mr. Biden routinely touts his “Scranton Joe” persona.
Mr. Biden also has relentlessly pitched his economic agenda as a “blue-collar blueprint” to create jobs that do not require a four-year college degree.
In September, Mr. Biden assailed former President Donald Trump, a potential opponent in the 2024 White House race, for his ties to business moguls and the wealthy elite.
“When the last guy was here, he looked at the world from Park Avenue,” Mr. Biden said during a Labor Day rally. “Well, I look at it from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I look at it from Claymont, Delaware.”
The events are expected to raise millions of dollars for Mr. Biden’s reelection campaign, which has been bogged down by a lack of enthusiasm among the Democratic base and questions about his age.
Mr. Biden’s approval rating fell to 37% overall last month, according to a poll by Gallup. That’s the lowest level of his administration and his job approval rating among Democrats tumbled 11 percentage points to 75%, the worst approval rating from within his own party.
Still, Mr. Biden’s campaign has plenty of cash. As of the last fundraising reporting deadline at the end of September, Democrats had $91 million in cash on hand, the highest-ever total by a Democrat at this point in the election cycle,
The same fundraising report found that the Democratic National Committee and Mr. Biden raised more than $71 million between July and October.
“This quarter’s fundraising haul and historic cash on hand speak to the very real enthusiasm and support,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, manager of Mr. Biden’s reelection campaign said at the time. “These numbers are a testament to one of our core objectives early in this campaign: raise the resources needed to run an aggressive campaign that will win in November 2024.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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