Joe Biden wrapped up a fundraising blitz on Thursday with some words of praise for Jeffrey Katzenberg, who has an official role on his reelection campaign as one of its co-chairs.
At a fundraiser at the New York event space The Pool, Biden said, according to a pool report, “I have a lot of assets in my campaign, but none more consequential than Jeffrey Katzenberg.”
Katzenberg was present at the event, as he was for a fundraiser in Chicago on Wednesday. In recent weeks, Biden has been making a number of fundraising swings, including a trek to San Francisco last week, with a June 30 end-of-the-quarter deadline approaching. Campaigns must report their fundraising totals to the Federal Election Commission by July 15, so there will be plenty of attention on the Biden campaign total and what it says about donor enthusiasm for his reelection.
Katzenberg, who has long been a top fundraiser in Democratic party politics, has taken an official role in Biden’s campaign this cycle, appearing as the only non-elected official among a list of co-chairs when the president announced that he was running. He’s also been advising the campaign on messaging, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) told the Chicago Sun-Times, with “just a real focus on what is the message to connect with the American people across the country.” The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Katzenberg has advised the 80-year-old Biden to “own” his age and embrace it like Harrison Ford and Mick Jagger. Even though Biden’s age remains a major concern among voters in recent polls, Katzenberg has been bullish about Biden’s campaign launch.
The president has yet to make a trek to Los Angeles for a reelection fundraising swing, but there is expectation that will happen this summer.
At the New York event, Biden repeated some of the comments he made earlier in the day in his MSNBC appearance with Nicolle Wallace, including that the GOP was “not your father’s Republican party.”
“This is a different breed of cat,” he said. “But there’s still a lot of really honorable, decent Republican senators and congressmen.
