Kamala Harris Struggles In Reassuring Major Campaign Donors as More Democrats Abandon Biden
“The call was not productive, and we wanted to apologize to each of you who joined for sharing that invitation.”
As Democrats in congress continue to walk away from Biden, the campaign had Vice President Kamala Harris field a group call with major donors in an effort to stop the flood.
Biden continues to insist that he is staying in the race, but if there’s one thing that could trip him up, it’s a lack of dollars flowing into his campaign.
The New York Times reported:
Harris Struggles to Reassure Major Democratic Donors
Vice President Kamala Harris tried to buck up the Democratic Party’s biggest donors on Friday, telling about 300 of them that there was little to worry about in President Biden’s campaign.
Ms. Harris spoke to the group at a time of extraordinary turmoil among Democrats, with many hoping that she will replace Mr. Biden as the party’s nominee. But several listeners said they found the meeting overall to be of little value and even, at times, condescending, believing that the message ignored donors’ legitimate concerns about the Biden-led ticket.
Ms. Harris, of course, is in a delicate position: She must demonstrate loyalty to her boss but also be prepared to jump immediately to the top of the Democratic ticket if Mr. Biden were to withdraw.
“I will start by sharing something with all of you,” Ms. Harris told the donors, according to a listener on the call who described her remarks on the condition of anonymity, “something I believe in my heart of hearts. It is something I feel strongly you should all hear and should take with you when you leave. And tell your friends, too. We are going to win this election.” …
Some listeners said they did find Ms. Harris’s delivery to be strong, even if it offered little reassurance, and did not place the blame on her. And some of the donors who were disappointed with the call had preexisting concerns about Mr. Biden’s candidacy, which is why they had requested the briefing.
After the call, one group that had promoted it in advance apologized to its members for having done so.
“Not surprisingly, there was no news generated on this call, and instead, it was a pitch for donors to continue to invest in groups on the ground who are working to defeat Donald Trump,” read an email from Corridor Partners, which advises donors focused on climate issues. “The vice president spoke very briefly and encouraged us all to keep working hard to win in November.”
The email, which was viewed by The New York Times, added, “The call was not productive, and we wanted to apologize to each of you who joined for sharing that invitation.”
Politico has more details:
Harris tries to calm jittery donors
Vice President Kamala Harris tried on Friday to reassure hundreds of nervous Democratic donors, some of whom have withheld money since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, that she and the president were going to “win this election.”
“In just the past seven days, as you have heard, I’ve traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina, and I am out here in these streets,” Harris said on a phone call with the donors, according to audio of the meeting obtained by POLITICO. “I am seeing that the American people are coming to understand the enormous consequence of this election and the stakes of this election. Many of us have been involved with these elections every four years, and nearly every time we say, this is the one. Well, this here is the one.”
In just under five minutes of remarks, Harris didn’t address the growing calls from congressional Democrats that Biden drop from the ticket and instead thanked the participants for their support. As donations to Biden’s campaign have slowed since the debate, the implicit request was clear.
“You sacrifice many other priorities that you have and responsibilities you have to give to our country through these cycles and through this election in particular,” the vice president said.
CNN’s John King addressed the fundraising issue for the Biden campaign and Democrats during the network’s coverage of the final night of the RNC, and what he is hearing is pretty bad:
“Fundraisers have not only told the Biden campaign we’re done, we’re not raising any more big money for you, but now they’ve told the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees, we are not raising any more money for you….Donors are essentially saying, get him to leave the race or we’re not giving you any money at all.”
Watch this to the end:
CNN’s John King lists all the signs that things are worsening for Biden:
1: “[Dem governors] had another strategy call among themselves essentially make the point that, what are we going to do if he doesn’t get out, what next steps should we plan if he doesn’t take the hint and… pic.twitter.com/c8qDsHlL5l
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 19, 2024
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Comments
To avoid embarrassment, Kamala’s staff constantly reminds her through her earpiece that the thing in her hand is a microphone.
They also need to remind Biden that when he eats the waffle cone ice cream, he engulfs it like Stormy Daniels trying to remove chrome from a trailer hitch.
Sounds like another crummy Hollywood sequel:
The Walls Are Closing In Part MMMDCCXLI
She just needs to add some Venn diagrams to her presentation.
Every four years, the Democrats claim that this election is an existential election, this is the big one, this is the end of democracy.
Yet, every democratic controlled city, state, or this country has catastrophic damage done to it by democrats at the helm.
I would love to see just one city or state controlled by democrats that isn’t a rat infested illegal immigrant hellhole.
If they win, then they’re right this time,
Let’s hope it is too late for the DNC to recover. Even at that, we need to vote like we the GOP are 10 points down—NO red-wave detritus.
And yet…. Remember that something like 47 or 48 percent of voters will vote Democrat regardless of the fact that their party is pushing forward a Vegetable and a stupid slut and an unpopular slut at that.
Don’t get too cocky folks. It’s a long time to November and the people who dreamed up the Russian piss tapes are still out there working feverishly
“ … now they’ve told the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees, we are not raising any more money for you….Donors are essentially saying, get him to leave the race or we’re not giving you any money at all.”
Joe, if you are listening – sounds like your negotiating leverage just went up.
What a bunch of ingrates – after 3.5 years of graft and earmarks – I say clean them out on your way out, that’s my advice.
I’m surprised she hasn’t offered sexual favors, something in her talent stack.
Julia Roberts attested to its use in legal matters in Erin Brockovich (2000).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzUamnUmPwY
I wouldn’t let her toss my word salad.
It is hard to believe how the donors couldn’t take to such someone with such endearing personality and infectious laugh.
“several listeners said they found the meeting overall to be of little value and even, at times, condescending”
How can you not get totally pumped over the prospect of “AN UNPRECEDENTED 9000% MATCH!” ??
Yet if she takes over she will become Wonder Woman overnight.
“Kamala Harris Struggles…”
You could have stopped right there.
Is Frank Lautenberg available?
He’s dead. But Torricelli is still registered.
I already see the excuse…they got outspent with shady money flowing in from foreign (Russian) influencers.
Ben Smith has an article up detailing the several options Dems are looking at for a ‘Blitz Primary.’ They’re a mishmash of star chamber options and picking a nominee based on ‘polling.’ There will, of course, be no voting (by actual people) in their new ‘primary’ system.
It’s conceivable – probably even likely – that Trump & Vance won’t have any idea who they’re running against until the last 10-days or so of August. It’s crazy.
https://x.com/semaforben/status/1814759528518590581