The fallout from President Joe Biden‘s disastrous debate performance surprisingly did not include a complete shutdown of incoming donations to Biden’s campaign.
But after two weeks, and one particularly weighty op-ed later, that appears to be changing.
Multiple senior Democratic operatives tell the Washington Examiner that outstanding questions about Biden’s election viability have paused efforts from some fundraisers to solicit new donations to support the president’s campaign spending.
“These people aren’t dumb. They want to know exactly who the nominee will be before the money starts coming in again,” one Democratic strategist familiar with Biden’s orbit explained.
A second Democratic operative told the Washington Examiner that there would also be a lot of eyes on Biden’s Thursday night press conference on the sidelines of the 75th NATO summit during which he was pressed by reporters about his candidacy. It’s yet unclear how his performance, which included multiple gaffes, will affect fundraising operations for his campaign, if at all.
During his press conference, Biden addressed fundraising concerns, saying his campaign was “not doing bad” in terms of money raised, and that while other Democrats could beat former President Donald Trump in a general election, it would be “hard to start from scratch.”
Other outlets, including NBC News, CNN, and Fox News, also reported earlier this week that Biden is facing a severe fundraising crunch as party elites continue to mount pressure campaigns for the president to step aside.
“People are starting to tap the brakes a bit. They want to see how it’s going to play out,” an anonymous Democratic bundler told Fox News.
“No one is picking up the phone,” a “well-connected” Democratic fundraiser, who has previously raised for Biden, similarly told CNBC.
The Biden campaign vehemently pushed back on those reports, claiming that the president has seen some of his best grassroots fundraising days during the opening weeks of July.
“On grassroots fundraising, the first seven days of July were the best start to the month on the campaign — and many of those were first-time donors,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement. “On the high-dollar side, we’ve had folks max out since the debate, as well.”
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), whose home state of Michigan Biden will visit on Friday, additionally told the Washington Examiner that she’s seen no signs of fundraising woes for the president.
“I see both sides of this as a member of Congress, right? I fundraise. I talk to donors and I talk to voters, and sometimes they’re overlapped and you know, sometimes, in the trenches work, people are removed from it,” she said Thursday. “Every day in Michigan, we have a real campaign here. It is going really well. I’m really excited about it. And I wouldn’t be saying this if I wasn’t sure.”
Still, a number of Hollywood mega-donors, longtime sources of campaign cash for Biden and other Democratic candidates, have openly said they won’t donate again this cycle until Biden is replaced.
Heiress and filmmaker Abigail Disney told CNBC in early July that she would halt her 2024 contributions unless Biden is replaced at the top of the ticket.
“I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket,” she wrote in a July 5 statement. “This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high.”
Damon Lindelof, a producer, screenwriter and self-described “significant contributor to Democrats up and down the ballot,” urged his Hollywood peers in a July 3 op-ed to take part in a “DEMbargo” until the president is replaced.
“No checks written. No ActBlue links clicked. For anyone,” he wrote. “When they text you asking for cash, text back that you’re not giving them a penny and you won’t change your mind until there’s change at the top of the ticket. And when Joe finally leaves the mound, I will stand and applaud. Because he truly pitched a great game.”
The most public blow to Biden’s fundraising faucet came from George Clooney on Wednesday. The famed actor had lent both his digital and physical likeness to Biden’s fundraising efforts on multiple occasions this cycle before writing an op-ed in the New York Times telling Biden to back down for the good of the country.
“The one battle [Biden] cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can,” Clooney opined about his recent time spent with the president. “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F—ing deal Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Throughout most of the 2024 race, Biden held a substantial cash advantage over former President Donald Trump, which the president’s campaign and allied super PACs poured into hundreds of millions in battleground ads.
But Trump’s New York conviction saw him pull in donations by the fistful, and he now holds more cash on hand than Biden, blunting the president’s ability to blanket voters with on-air messaging attempting to prove his continued viability as a candidate.
According to AdImpact, which tracks political campaign spending, Trump and his allies have $92.9 million in upcoming reserved ads, compared to $140.6 million from Biden and his supporters.
Though Biden still leads, his ad spending advantage has shrunk significantly compared to Super Tuesday through Thursday.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Over that time frame, Biden and Democrats spent more than $211 million on campaign ads for the president, compared to just $46.5 million from Trump and his allies.
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.