In the run-up to President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race, several donors proactively reached out to Vice President Kamala Harris’s team to signal that they would be willing to support her if she were a front-runner, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
One donor who participated in one of those conversations described the message as, “If anything changes, we’re here for you.”
Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris represents a radical change for the Democratic Party, one that donors publicly accept.
Dmitri Melhorn, a Democratic political strategist who advises several major donors, issued a statement Sunday after Biden dropped out endorsing Harris.
“Kamala Harris is the American dream incarnate, the daughter of immigrants who met at Cal. She also embodies resilience, rising from my hometown of Oakland, California, to become the state’s top attorney general. As Scranton steps down, Joe “can’t wait” to help elect President Harris, the statement said.
Large-scale donations to Biden’s reelection campaign have dropped sharply in the weeks since the president’s CNN debate performance and the resulting crisis of confidence in the Democratic Party, and his campaign finances have become a key consideration in weighing whether he will continue in the race.
Big donors, who had been withholding checks amid concerns about Biden’s candidacy, suddenly began calling advisers, expressing a willingness to donate to the campaign, according to a source involved in the discussions.
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