Biden Fundraiser With Kamala Harris Nets $3.5 Million
A fundraiser for Joe Biden co-hosted by potential running mate Kamala Harris brought in more than $3.5 million from 1,400 donors.
(Bloomberg) -- A fundraiser for Joe Biden co-hosted by potential running mate Kamala Harris brought in more than $3.5 million from 1,400 donors on Tuesday.
With in-person campaigning limited, the virtual fundraiser is one of the few opportunities for the Democratic presidential nominee to test out possible vice-presidential picks with audiences.
There were no mentions of the running mate topic during the nearly hour-long event, which included a carefully planned question-and-answer session. But Biden and Harris called each other by their first names, and Biden mentioned that “we talk a lot.”
“I believe he is the right person at the right time to lead our country through the crises that we face. He has our best interests at heart,” Harris, a California senator and former opponent of Biden’s in the 2020 Democratic primaries, said as she introduced him.
The fundraiser’s co-host, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, announced the haul at the start of the event. It was the second-largest take of any Biden fundraiser thus far, with tickets ranging from $1,000 to $100,000. A high-dollar, 15-person event last week raised $4 million.
Biden has said he plans to choose a woman as his running mate and will announce a decision by Aug. 1.
Biden told CBS News in an interview released Tuesday that the last two weeks of protests and debates over racial injustice have “put a greater focus and urgency on the need to get someone who is totally simpatico with where I am” on the ticket.
Harris has long been seen as a top contender though her past work as a prosecutor has at times seemed like a potential stumbling block, especially as Biden seeks to secure the backing of progressives who did not support him in the primaries. But Harris, just the second black woman to be elected to the Senate, has been a prominent congressional voice in the response to the death of George Floyd in police custody, helping her improve her standing in the eyes of some activists.
“She’s been a fighter and a principled leader and I know because I’ve seen her up close and I’ve seen her in the trenches,” Biden said of Harris.
The two first first met through Biden’s late son, Beau Biden, who was Delaware’s attorney general while Harris held the same position in California.
“I’ve seen her heart,” he said, recalling a moment, photographed by a Harris aide, in late 2018 when she saw him on the street and jumped out of a car to tell him, “I love you and I love Beau.” Beau Biden died in 2015.
Debate Confrontation
They clashed on a primary debate stage last June when Harris brought up Joe Biden’s opposition in the 1970s to federal laws mandating busing to desegregate schools. The attack from Harris, who’d been bused to desegregate a school in Northern California in the late 1960s, took Biden by surprise, in part because of her relationship with his son.
He’s since said that he holds no hard feelings toward Harris for the incident.
Harris made clear Tuesday that she’s all-in for Biden if he wants her on the ticket.
“This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves. We’ve got to do everything in our power,” Harris said.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.