Vice President Kamala Harris is already facing a wave of support from big donors after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, with help from fundraisers who backed her in past elections, according to people familiar with the matter.
As soon as Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Harris, people who helped Harris raise money for her losing 2020 Democratic primary and her 2016 Senate victory immediately began reaching out to wealthy donors, according to the people, who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely.
Some of the party’s major donors had chosen to withhold funding, believing Biden should not be at the forefront of the nomination race after his disastrous defeat to former President Donald Trump in the June 27 debate.
One of the party’s top fundraisers now planning to back Harris is Marc Lasry, a veteran Wall Street executive who helped raise money for the vice president when she faced Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary and later raised money for Biden during his win over Trump in that election, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Venture capitalist Reid Hoffman plans to donate more to Harris’ candidacy during the 2024 presidential election than he did when he supported Biden over Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter. Hoffman has donated at least $10 million to a political action committee supporting Biden so far this election, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Hoffman endorsed Harris in a social media post. A spokesman for Hoffman declined to comment.
Before Biden withdrew, Ms. Harris’ allies had been planning a fundraiser in the Hamptons in early August that would have featured Vice President Doug Emhoff, the people said. Some donors had removed email invitations out of frustration with Mr. Biden, the people said.
The event, to be held in the Hamptons next month, is expected to likely sell out as many donors turn out to support Harris, according to a person familiar with the event.
“It’s time for us all to unite behind Kamala Harris and defeat Donald Trump,” Alexander Soros, the son of Democratic megadonor George Soros, said in a social media post on Sunday after Biden withdrew.
But the support of big donors for Harris is not widespread across the Democratic Party, suggesting she still has work to do to win them over.
Stewart Bynum Jr., chairman of Choice Hotels and a major Biden donor, told CNBC he’s staying on the sidelines and isn’t planning on backing Harris because he thinks the upcoming convention, scheduled to take place in Chicago in August, should be a tightly contested battle with other potential candidates also having a chance to lead the party.
Another veteran Biden fundraiser said a “mini-primary” should be held in the coming weeks leading up to the convention for Harris and other candidates vying for the nomination.
But for Harris, the quick buy-in from some donors is a sign that she can bolster the more than $95 million in campaign funds she will control after Biden drops out of the race.
Within five hours of Biden endorsing Harris, progressive giving platform ActBlue announced it had raised $27.5 million from small donors.
The campaign has filed a new name with the Federal Election Commission: “Harris Campaign for President.” Harris posted donation links to her current political campaign on her social media pages.
Anna Massolia, research manager at Open Secrets, a campaign finance research center, said Harris will likely have ready access to about $96 million in contributions from the Biden campaign.
“The general consensus from most people I’ve spoken to is that she has access to funding,” Massoglia said in an interview with CNBC.
Massoglia noted that some conservative election lawyers believe Harris would need to officially become the Democratic nominee before she could have full access to campaign finances, but added that that represents only a “small fraction” of the lawyers’ views.
Still, until the dispute over whether Harris needs to become a formal candidate is resolved by election lawyers, her access to campaign funds remains an open question. The same goes for contributions from the DNC and joint fundraising committees, Massoglia said.
But the scenario becomes more complicated if Harris doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, in which case her campaign could shift the money to a PAC or another type of political committee to spend on supporting a new candidate.
Massoglia said there are some drawbacks to this option: PACs would charge more for advertising and would not be allowed to coordinate with candidates.
An alternative would be to refund donors and ask them to give to a different committee, but that would add risk that donors might decide not to give to the new campaign, Massoglia said.