President Joe Biden will mingle with the Bay Area’s elite Wednesday and Thursday, attending fundraisers with the Gettys in San Francisco and then meeting with Silicon Valley millionaires in Los Altos Hills.
With the March primary just weeks away, Biden is looking to add to his burgeoning re-election war chest by courting wealthy California Democrats who have the means to write checks of up to $100,000 for a meet and greet.
Biden’s campaign announced a record $42 million in donations in January alone, giving him $130 million in the bank as he looks ahead to the November general election where he will likely face GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump.
“January’s fundraising haul – driven by a powerhouse grassroots fundraising program that continues to grow month by month – is an indisputable show of strength to start the election year,” Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
After spending Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, Biden is scheduled to land at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday afternoon, then make a short trip to Marina Green before heading to two San Francisco fundraisers. U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, is expected to attend at the Getty fundraiser, according to Puck News.
On Thursday, Biden is scheduled to travel down the Peninsula to Los Altos Hills, for a fundraiser at the home of housing developer Bob Klein and Danielle Guttman Klein and former state Controller Steve Westly, who has hosted two fundraisers for Biden last year at his Atherton home. Tickets for Thursday’s event start at $6,600 and top out at $100,000, according to The Hill.
Biden’s campaign chest amounts to the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate this early in the election cycle, the campaign said. Ninety-seven percent of all its donations were less than $200.
Trump, who is dogged by legal bills, has yet to announce his January fundraising numbers.
Check back for more on this developing story.