In the lead-up to President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the 2024 race, multiple donors had reached out to Vice President Kamala Harris’ team proactively to signal they would be willing to support her if she ran at the top of the ticket, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
One donor participating in one of those conversations described the message as: “If anything changes, we are there for you.”
Biden’s decision to exit the race and endorse Harris represents a seismic change for the Democratic party – and one that donors are embracing publicly.
Dmitri Mehlhorn, a Democratic political strategist advising several big-money backers, released a statement Sunday following Biden’s withdrawal supporting Harris.
“Kamala Harris is the American dream personified, daughter of immigrants who met at Cal. She is also toughness personified, rising from my home town of Oakland California to become the top prosecutor of the state. With Scranton Joe stepping back, I cannot wait to help elect President Harris,” the statement said.
Major donations to Biden’s reelection campaign had shrunk considerably in the weeks since the president’s CNN debate performance and the resulting crisis of confidence in the Democratic party, and the financing of his campaign became a key consideration as he weighed whether to stay in the race.
Big-dollar donors who had been withholding cheques amid concerns over Biden’s candidacy abruptly began reaching out to advisers, expressing readiness to give to the campaign, according to a source involved in discussions.
