President Biden will ditch his folksy “Scranton Joe” persona to hobnob with Hollywood elites and Silicon Valley executives this week in a series of high-dollar California campaign fundraisers.
Mr. Biden will depart Washington for the Golden State on Tuesday for the three-day trip. He will attend fundraisers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Los Altos Hills.
The president is tapping California’s deep-pocketed Democratic boosters to keep his campaign flush with cash ahead of an expected rematch against former President Donald Trump in November. Silicon Valley and the entertainment industry are reliable sources of campaign cash for Democratic candidates.
The White House described the events as “political engagements” without releasing details. Mr. Biden’s campaign declined to comment.
The fundraising events, in which donors will cough up as much as $250,000, 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.
Last September, Mr. Biden assailed Mr. Trump 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 and mental fitness.
Mr. Biden kicks off the fundraising trip in Los Angeles, where he will attend an event at the home of longtime Democratic Party boosters Haim and Cheryl Saban. An Israeli American media mogul, Mr. Saban made his fortune licensing the lucrative Power Rangers franchise.
Tickets for the Tuesday event range from $3,300 to $250,000, according to a report in Deadline. Attendees who want a photo op with Mr. Biden must pay at least $25,000.
Proceeds from the event will go to the Biden Victory Fund, which supports his reelection effort, and the Democratic National Committee.
The president was in Los Angeles earlier this month, where met with Star Wars creator George Lucas and music industry executives to boost his reelection campaign.
After Los Angeles, the president will travel to San Francisco. Planning for two other events is underway, according to sources familiar with the trip, but no definitive plans have been announced.
Mr. Biden will conclude the trip on Thursday at the Los Altos Hills home of Robert and Danielle Klein. Former state Controller and venture capitalist Steve Westly will co-host the event.
Tickets to the event at the Klein home start at $6,600 and go up to $100,000 for hosts, $50,000 for “co-hosts” and $25,000 for an “advocate.”
Mr. Klein manages a $7 billion real-estate development company that manages major investments from CalPERS, California’s Public Employee Pension Fund. He also led ballot initiatives in 2004 and 2020 to create a new stem-cell agency in California.
Like Los Angeles, Mr. Biden has made repeated trips to the Bay Area seeking cash infusions from the region’s Democratic-friendly investors and tech executives. Last September, he attended fundraisers by several top internet executives while attending the Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco.
Mr. Biden’s campaign and its affiliated entities reported last month that they had raised $235 million between April 2023 through the end of last year. After a series of record-breaking fundraising months, the campaign had $117 million in cash on hand, according to federal campaign finance disclosures.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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