Star-studded lineup headlines Biden fundraiser with Obama, Clinton
WASHINGTON – The stars are coming out for President Joe Biden’s campaign fundraiser Thursday with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” will moderate an “armchair conversation” with Biden, Obama and Clinton at the high-dollar event at Radio City Music Hall in New York, according to the campaign.
Actress Mindy Kaling, who starred in the “The Office” and “The Mindy Project,” is set to host the program. The evening will feature musical guests Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele.
The fundraiser is expected to be the
most lucrative to date for Biden’s reelection campaign, which has significantly outraised former President Donald Trump, who Biden likely will face in November.
Fundraiser guests who pay enough can have their portrait taken with the three presidents by world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, known for her pictures of celebrities.
Donors can also take part in a virtual conversation with the three presidents moderated by Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez.
The event is expected to raise at least $10 million and draw at least 3,000 people, Chris Korge, a veteran Democratic fundraiser and finance chair of the Biden Victory Fund, told NBC News. A photograph with all three presidents will start at $100,000, NBC reported, but the tickets to attend the program go for as little as $250 each.
Korge has organized the fundraiser alongside DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, the campaign’s co-chair; Rufus Gifford, the campaign finance chair; and Anna Wintour, U.S. artistic director of Condé Nast.
The Biden campaign and other joint committees raised $53 million in February, giving the incumbent president $155 million on hand to spend − the most ever for a Democratic candidate at this point in the election cycle.