monday, april 6 , 2020. the washington post eZ re A
the coronavirus pandemic
biden for president/associated pressFormer vice president Joe Biden holds a virtual news briefing in late March. Such events have become
common for the Democratic presidential candidate, who n ow holds virtual fundraisers.
BY MICHELLE YE HEE LEE
AND MATT VISERDozens of influential donors
gathered last week to hear from
former vice president Joe Biden.
But rather than mingling over
cocktails at t he home of a notable
host, t he guests signed on using a
personalized link to a videocon-
ferencing call — the default ven-
ue in the socially distant era.
It’s the new normal for Biden,
whose fundraising has hit new
roadblocks after sweeping victo-
ries in March’s primaries as
Americans have turned their fo-
cus to the novel coronavirus
pandemic and its economic fall-
out, his fundraisers say.
Some of Biden’s donors point
to the decision by a number of
states to postpone primaries to
June 2 because o f the virus as o ne
way he has been robbed of op-
portunities to build momentum
and grab headlines.
“We’re all concerned, now that
the primary is June 2, and no
momentous thing happening
li ke winning major primaries...
to g ive him a boost, both i n terms
of media attention and dele-
gates, until June,” said Alan
Kessler, a longtime Biden donor
and bundler.
But some of his allies fret that,
even before the pandemic, Biden
was far behind President Trump,
who has been raising money for
the general election since 2017.
They worry the current environ-
ment — which makes it impossi-
ble for Biden to hold intimate,
in-person gatherings with
wealthy donors, and in which
Trump has much more visibility
— may deepen his challenges.
Biden’s backers hope his
name recognition and voter en-
thusiasm to oust Trump will
ultimately make up for any
financial setbacks — and, they
point out, Republicans face the
same hurdles in raising money
while the coronavirus remains a
threat. Supporters note that the
anti-Trump sentiments will ulti-
mately rally the party, and its
donors, around the eventual
nominee, and Biden has a dele-
gate lead to challenge Trump in
the fall.
He posted his strongest
monthly fundraising record in
February, and aides say the cam-
paign raised $33 million in the
first two weeks of March, when
donors consolidated around his
candidacy after most of the other
Democrats dropped out of the
presidential race. Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) remains in the
race a nd has a narrow p ath to the
nomination.
“Joe Biden is driving huge
voter turnout during this prima-
ry season, which has translated
to a significant delegate lead and
a strong fundraising uptick,” s aid
Biden campaign spokesman TJ
Ducklo. “A mericans are craving
the kind of steady, competent
and compassionate leadership
right now that Vice President
Biden has modeled his entire
career, and we’re seeing enor-
mous energy and enthusiasm
across the country — financially
and otherwise — to bring that
kind of leadership back to the
White House.”
But if he secures the nomina-
tion, he will face a well-funded
foe in Trump. By the end of
February, the latest data avail-
able, Trump, the Republican Na-
tional Committee and joint f und-
raising committees had an eye-
popping $225 million left to
spend on the election, officials
said. By the end of February,
Biden had just $12 million left
for his bid.
The appearance of asking for
money during a global pandemic
has been a particular complica-
tion for Biden, his backers say.
Some Democratic bundlers
who were sitting on the side-
lines were preparing to join
Biden’s fundraising network fol-
lowing his big wins in March.
But they are now hesitant, balk-
ing at the idea of soliciting
money amid record unemploy-
ment and a quickly spreading
disease.
“It’s very difficult,” said Ed
Rendell, the former Pennsylva-
nia governor and a top Biden
fundraiser. “Some people al-
most actually get offended that
you’re doing something as mun-
dane as raising money for a
political campaign when hun-
dreds of Americans are dying
each day.”
For example, a handful of
Biden’s longtime donors sought
to co-sign a donation appeal
asking supporters to give the
maximum $2,800 donation.
They wagered that a jointly
signed letter would seem more
palatable than one carrying any
single donor’s name.
But t he donors could n ot agree
on the letter’s language and
missed the March 31 deadline,
said one of the donors involved,
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss private
fundraising matters.The new dynamic also re-
wards the ability to raise funds
online, which since the start of
his campaign has been one of
Biden’s biggest struggles. His
online fundraising has improved
drastically in recent months, but
he still relies heavily on a net-
work of wealthy donors he has
known throughout his decades
in public life.
Biden has tried to make up the
lost ground — partly with a
barrage of Facebook ads, where
the campaign has been spending
about $100,000 daily since Super
Tuesday, that are soliciting new
donors to his campaign — but
even his allies concede he is far
behind prolific small-dollar
fundraisers such as Sanders and
Trump.
Elsewhere in the Democratic
Party, there are concerns that the
fundraising slowdown could
hurt the party’s chances of main-
taining its majority in the House
and flipping control of the Sen-
ate.
Lesser-known congressional
ca ndidates typically lack estab-
lished donor bases enjoyed by
longtime incumbents who would
give even without attending a
fundraising event.
Meanwhile, Trump’s massive
reelection fundraising hasbuoyed the party’s down-ballot
candidates, who are able to tap
into his fundraising earlier than
Democrats can because of the
legal advantages that the incum-
bent’s party enjoys, Democratic
strategists say.
“The American people are see-
ing how well President Trump is
responding to this crisis, and his
bold leadership is helping our
country weather this storm,”
RNC spokeswoman Mandi Mer-
ritt said in a statement. “Presi-
dent Trump will emerge from
this with a well-funded political
apparatus, putting him in a
stronger position than any Dem-
ocrat candidate.”
Campaigns in both parties are
scrambling to put together a
fully virtual fundraising pro-
gram, learning how to create an
intimate and exclusive experi-
ence between candidates logging
on from ad hoc studios in their
homes and donors who give as
much as $2,800 to sign in from
theirs.
“We have a media cycle that is
so dominated by this huge pan-
demic, we have candidates who
just can’t travel to where donors
tend to be concentrated. So
they’re relying on virtual means
of engagement, but it’s just
to ugher to break through,” said
Swati Mylavarapu, former fund-
raising chair for Pete Buttigieg’s
presidential campaign, who is
investing in 64 down-ballot rac-
es.
Wealthy donors new to video-
conferencing are struggling to
adjust, unsure whether expecta-
tions of cocktail attire apply
virtually and getting frustrated
at the unflattering angles reflect-
ed on screen, longtime fundrais-
ers from both parties said.
At a video conference initially
scheduled t o take place t his w eek
in Manhattan for Democracy Al-
liance, a network of wealthy
liberal donors, nearly 500 people
— mainly donors who contribute
at least $200,000 each to certain
liberal groups — tuned in to the
conference for two hours per day
over three days.
To keep attendees engaged in
between discussions of how the
pandemic was affecting voter
engagement and turnout work,
officials aired video messages
filmed by Sens. Cory Booker
(N.J.) and Charles E. Schumer
(N.Y.) and showed musical per-
formances.
Some of Biden’s challenges
have been technical. For in-
stance, when the campaign held
its first virtual fundraiser on
March 20, it did not have the
capability to answer donors’
questions.
Biden spoke for about 10 min-
utes at that event, sitting in front
of a tall white bookcase with
books and framed family photo-
graphs as the sound of a barking
dog was occasionally heard in
the b ackground, according to the
pool report.
Biden told donors he wanted
to take questions but could not
do that at the time, telling do-
nors: “I promise I’ll get back to
you, pick up the phone and call
you directly or I’ll email you
back,” t he report read.
The events have markedly im-
proved in recent days — he
answered questions during fund-
raisers held on Thursday and
Friday that, combined, attracted
nearly 300 donors — and Biden’s
interviews and private events
have been r unning m ore s mooth-
ly, said Kessler, the longtime
Biden donor, adding: “Hopefully,
we’ll be seeing more of that.”
m [email protected]
[email protected]chelsea Janes contributed to this
report.Biden fighting for momentum
Candidate’s allies fear
Trump’s fundraising
advantage is deepening“It’s very difficult. Some
people almost actually
get offended that you’re
doing something as
mundane as raising
money for a political
campaign when
hundreds of Americans
are dying each day.”
Ed Rendell, former governor of
pennsylvania and a top f undraiser for
former vice president Joe biden361667513jixiansheng