President Joe Biden was in Silicon Valley on Friday to raise millions of dollars for his re-election campaign as he criticized former President Trump and argued his campaign was undervalued.
“The media doesn’t want to cover this, but the momentum is clearly in our favor, the polls are in our favor and not in Trump’s favor,” he said, noting that 1.6 million people donated to the campaign, almost all of less than $200 each. He said his campaign has opened 150 offices in battleground states, “while Trump has opened zero. And it’s not just because he’s on trial.”
California donors fund both parties’ presidential campaigns, with both Biden and Trump raising more money for their reelection campaigns in the state than anywhere else, according to Federal Election Commission data. The president is expected to return to Southern California in June for a fundraiser.
Biden traveled to California on Friday, his first visit since holding a fundraiser at media mogul Haim Saban’s Beverly Park estate in February. The Israeli-American billionaire drew scrutiny this week when he sent an email to top Biden aides criticizing the administration’s decision to suspend arms shipments to Israel because they could be used in an offensive against the densely populated southern Gaza Strip city of.
Biden encountered protesters in the Bay Area and in Seattle, where he flew to after a visit to California. As the president’s motorcade drove toward a Palo Alto fundraiser hosted by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, it was met by people holding Palestinian flags and “Defund Israel” signs, and another waving an Israeli flag group.
Biden made no mention of the issue at three fundraisers in California and Washington on Friday, including one hosted by Mayer where tickets cost up to $50,000, according to the news website Puck. Biden earlier held a fundraiser at the Portola Valley home of Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, which cost up to $100,000. The two events are expected to raise $4 million.
California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom attended the Mayer event. Biden called the two women a source of inspiration and pointed to his efforts to create a diverse government.
“To me, these two women – and I mean this sincerely – are emblematic of the changes that are happening in America,” the president said. “They’re very capable, they’re very capable, and they’re changing the whole sentiment about what success looks like and what you can do.”
Silicon Valley has developed into a fundraising hub for political candidates, overwhelmingly supporting the Democratic Party.
In the 2024 presidential election, Biden and related groups supporting his campaign have drawn support from the communications and electronics industries, including technology company) raised $17.1 million. Trump has raised $1.7 million.
Trump did receive support from some prominent tech leaders during his successful 2016 campaign, such as billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, which made history that year, before Trump was nominated. He said at the Republican National Convention that he was gay.
Thiel and some other tech leaders have backed away from Trump after the chaos of his presidency and the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
Some supported other Republican candidates in the 2024 Republican primaries, but some have reportedly rejoined the fold since Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee.
Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump is building a historic, unifying political movement to make America great again, with the support of more than 90% of Republican voters, leading two By a huge margin, he won over independent voters and made historic gains in a long-standing Democratic district.
“Anyone who believes in securing our borders, rebuilding our economy, restoring America’s energy dominance and ending the wars Joe Biden has created around the world is welcome to join President Trump’s movement to make America great again,” Levitt said.
National Republican leaders predict Biden will lose in November amid disputes over his fundraising ability.
“Everyone is worse off under Joe Biden, but Biden has failed to correct his failed Biden economics agenda or Securing the border but brushing off donors to save his embattled campaign “won’t work – voters know Biden is wrong on these issues, and they will on November 5th. Vote President Trump back to the White House.”
First lady Jill Biden is also raising money for her husband’s re-election campaign in California — in Marin County on Thursday and speaking at President Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to Germany John Emerson in Beverly Hills on Friday Kimberly Marto Emerson’s home.
The event raised more than $450,000, John Emerson told attendees, including media mogul and Biden re-election campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Jill Biden launches attack on Trump after recounting Biden’s five marriage proposals.
“Donald Trump is a danger to our families and our country,” she said. “We are the first generation in half a century to give our daughters a country that has fewer rights than we do. We simply cannot let him win.
Speaking in Portola Valley, the president repeated a joke he had previously made about the former president.
“Not everyone is feeling the enthusiasm right now. One day, this guy came up to me and said I’m in real trouble, I’m short of money, and I don’t know what to do. I said, ‘Donald, I can’t help you,'” Biden said.
