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Biden cranks up his courtship of top donors ahead of the 2024 presidential election

by admin 4 months ago

President Joe Biden’s top political supporters complained of being shut out for most of his first two years in the White House, and many of them groused about the perceived lack of gratitude from a team whose victory they helped bankroll. 

But that’s all changing.

With Biden and party officials looking toward the 2024 presidential election — and on the heels of legislative wins and better-than-expected midterm results — the same White House that cold-shouldered its high rollers is now warming to them. 

“Is it any surprise?” Alan Kessler, a longtime Philadelphia-area fundraiser, said. “We’re over the midterms. Guess what election is next? Quite frankly, I think they’re doing the right thing.”

The White House is cranking up its donor courtship, a strategy that’s most evident in a shower of social invitations for big-dollar supporters: this week’s state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron, the arrival and lighting of the national Christmas tree, Biden’s Christmas parties and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Hanukkah celebration among them. They’re offering more policy briefings to longtime supporters, Zoom calls with top administration officials and White House tours, too.

The donors have taken notice and already are praising the change from a team they long complained was unavailable to answer questions in darker political moments for Biden, according to interviews with more than 20 people who have contributed to Biden, raised money for him or helped secure White House invitations for his supporters. 

An expanded social calendar means “they are getting down the list a little further,” in terms of who gets face time with the president, said one White House official. And that could pay dividends for Biden if he runs in 2024.

Donor maintenance is a critical step for the administration should Biden seek re-election and even beyond, when he will likely want to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for a presidential library.

Despite all of the Biden administration’s victories and the absence of a midterm shellacking, the president’s poll numbers remain underwater, with an NBC poll taken just before the Nov. 8 election

For the White House, the shift is an acceleration of a courtship campaign that began more modestly before the midterm elections. As Biden racked up a handful of major legislative victories this year — including laws aimed at combating climate change and China’s edge in semiconductor manufacturing — the White House invited a broad array of supporters to celebrate at bill-signing ceremonies. Invites also went out to a White House Elton John concert.

Biden’s defenders have long said the White House was closed to many of the president’s allies because he took office during a period of much greater sensitivity to the Covid-19 pandemic. Amid concerns about the omicron variant last year, the White House was forced to abandon plans for a more full set of holiday parties. But there’s no such limitation this year.

“They are inviting just an obscene number of people” to December events, one Democratic official said.

The new level of TLC is a sign of a Biden team that’s gearing up for a potential re-elect campaign and comes after top fundraisers urged Biden’s aides to shift tactics.

“I’m encouraging them to court more large donors,” one of them said over the summer. Part of their argument has been that the president will need donors in 2024 far more than was needed in 2020 during a pandemic and when Democrats were eagerly opening their wallets to oust Donald Trump from the Oval Office.

Biden’s engagement with donors is important for another reason, top fundraisers have told his aides: Donors question whether he’s capable of running again, leaving them hesitant to continue cutting checks. One major Democratic fundraiser said donors regularly ask of the president, “Is he really with it?”

Donors who talked to NBC News said they’ve noticed a change with how they’re treated, including making a more conscious effort to set up phone calls with supporters, more regular briefings and even photo lines during visits like Obama made in pivotal states during the midterms. The amped-up effort involves both the White House and a Democratic National Committee that functions as the political arm of Biden’s operation.

“The DNC’s been virtually dormant for two years,” one member of the committee said. “They’re ramping up their game.”

Different donors have had different expectations. Tim Lim, a Democratic strategist and Biden bundler, was among those who grew frustrated over the White House’s attention to donors, bringing his complaint to the Democratic National Committee.

“It’s childish, frankly. I even admit that now,” Lim said. “There’s no reason to do it. But when you’re trying to get an Easter Egg Roll ticket for your family, you kind of get desperate.”

The White House’s shift in paying closer attention to supporters was an obvious one, he said, citing invites to a garden tour, the unveiling of Obama’s White House portrait, White House trick-or-treating as well as holiday parties.

Another donor, who in the past complained of not having enough access, cited a recent Zoom call with White House senior adviser Steve Ricchetti and deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon that was directed at some of Biden’s earliest supporters. Some of those same people were invited to the White House next month for an in-person policy briefing.

Some donors, however, think the White House took too long to step up its game. 

“Getting up to speed has taken longer than it should,” said Susie Tompkins Buell, a longtime high-dollar Democratic donor. She said supporters recognized the administration was consumed by “excessive workloads and traumas” early on.

“I think donors understand but communication absolutely needs more effective attention,” Buell added. She said she’s seeing more examples of the White House recognizing it needs to appreciate donors but that it “seems like it was not a natural instinct.”

A running question throughout this administration has been whether Biden, who turned 80 years old last week, will mount one more campaign or step aside.

Kessler said he spoke to Biden in late October at a Pennsylvania Democratic Party event and thanked him for having recently affirmed it’s his intention to run again.

“I know you get tired of hearing, ‘Is he really running?’” Kessler recalled telling the president. “But when you come out with strong statements like that, it’s very helpful to people like me who are asked all the time.”

And how did Biden respond?

“He liked it,” Kessler said.