Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) famously swore off high-dollar fundraisers during her campaign to be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, but now that she’s no longer competing for the top job, she’s apparently open to breaking her promise.
The New York Times reports that Warren will host the next high-dollar “virtual” fundraiser for the Joe Biden for President campaign — fundraisers that typically command up to $100,000 per attendee, based on previous invitations. A previous “virtual” event with failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had ticket slots ranging from $2,300 per “plate” into the six figures, even though there were no “perks,” like photo opportunities, associated with the fundraiser.
Warren refused to do any high-dollar fundraising events during her presidential campaign, even though she had previously raised millions through private donor events just months before, during her Senate re-election campaign.
“The senator held high-dollar fundraisers during her 2018 Senate reelection campaign. However, along with fellow populist and 2020 rival Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, she eschewed them early in 2019 soon after launching her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination,” Fox News reports.
Instead, Warren’s team raised money through online small-dollar fundraising efforts and through unaffiliated super PACs that were, in fact, allowed to raise millions, but without Warren’s input or any Warren appearances.
The decision hurt Warren, limiting how much money she was able to raise for her own campaign, especially after interest in her presidential efforts declined markedly. Warren’s 2020 effort was over almost as soon as it begun when, in November of 2019, she was unable to fully explain how she planned to implement a “Medicare for All”-style healthcare system in the United States without raising taxes on the middle class — even as her fellow progressive, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), insisted that taxes would be raised across the board, but would be balanced out by healthcare savings.
Warren even attacked former Vice President Joe Biden over his high-dollar fundraising efforts.
“In the first 24 hours of his presidential campaign (welcome to the race!), Joe Biden raised $6.3 million,” Warren’s campaign team wrote in an email to supporters back in April. “How did Joe Biden raise so much money in one day? Well, it helps that he hosted a swanky private fundraiser for wealthy donors at the home of the guy who runs Comcast’s lobbying shop.”
“Elizabeth is building a grassroots movement without holding any big-money private fundraisers where you can only talk to her if you write a big check first. Without taking a dime from federally registered lobbyists or PACs of any kind. It’s the right thing to do,” the email said.
She also blasted former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg for holding a “wine cave” fundraiser in Silicon Valley during his campaign.
Now that her campaign is over, it seems Warren doesn’t have the same commitment to fundraising principles.
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