Washington
CNN
—
The Biden campaign hauled in $127 million in the month of June, a strong showing after some signs that its fundraising was slowing – and a bright spot for the campaign after days of trying to beat back concerns about President Joe Biden’s age and viability after his debate performance.
June marked “the campaign’s best month of the cycle,” according to a news release, which noted that the campaign now has “$240 million cash on hand – up from $212 million last month.”
In the days following the debate and amid intense criticism about Biden’s faltering performance – along with questions about his continued political viability – Biden’s campaign repeatedly pointed to good fundraising numbers as a signal of its grassroots strength. The argument is aimed at pushing back on those suggesting the president could lose support in the fallout from his performance.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, campaign chair for Biden, told members of the campaign’s National Finance Committee on Monday that the team is “clear-eyed, not pollyannish,” two participants on the call told CNN, but offered no indication Biden was reconsidering his bid for a second term.
A virtual meeting with about 500 donors, whose pictures spread across 21 pages of Zoom screens, was called in hopes of easing the tensions and answering questions top Democrats have been raising in response to Biden’s dismal debate night. O’Malley Dillon suggested Biden’s health was strong, the two sources said. She pointed to the president’s health report released by his doctors earlier this year, with his doctor declaring him fit to serve.
“He’s probably in better health than most of us,” O’Malley Dillon said, according to the participants, one of whom said it was offensive and dismissive of the real concerns about Biden in the wake of his debate.
A member of the National Finance Committee who participated in the call said it was disappointing that the top Biden official sought to downplay the concerns, rather than hear them.
The campaign raised more than $33 million between Thursday and Sunday morning, according to a campaign official. And Thursday, the official said, was the campaign’s best grassroots fundraising day to date.
Biden’s team has built a sizable war chest, which it has tapped for organizing and infrastructure in battleground states, along with significant spending on ads. There are more than 200 coordinated campaign offices with more than 1,000 staffers across battleground states, the campaign said.
Nearly two-thirds of the $127 million raised in June, the campaign said, came from grassroots donations, with 95% of the campaign’s donations this quarter under $200. Part of the total was fueled by a Los Angeles fundraiser featuring former President Barack Obama, George Clooney and Julia Roberts that brought in more than $30 million and the Bill and Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Virginia that brought in more than $8 million.
Still, the debate has sparked new Democratic donor anxiety that largely broke into three groups. Some argued against a pressure campaign urging the president to drop out, another group said party leaders should consider drastic steps only after the fallout from Thursday night is more closely examined, while a third group proactively called on Democrats to begin the process of seeking out a new nominee.
Biden’s campaign and its surrogates have sought to soothe the fallout from his debate performance, asking voters to consider the 90 minutes they saw him in the context of his three-and-a-half years in office. Sensing the political fragility of the moment, both Biden and his campaign have admitted he had an off night.
Chris Korge, the Democratic National Committee’s finance chair, used Monday’s Zoom call to urge donors to work harder and unify behind Biden.
“Everyone just needs to breathe through the nose for a minute,” Korge told donors, two participants on the call said, imploring donors not to panic about the trajectory of Biden’s race with former President Donald Trump.
Quentin Fulks, a deputy campaign manager, told donors that negative media coverage of Biden was to blame for any drop in the polls, rather than the president’s debate performance. He said editorials and columnists calling for Biden to leave the race were “blowing this out of proportion.”
But some top Democratic officials and supporters close to the White House have balked at the tone and language that campaign officials have taken as part of their defense.
The decision by the campaign to refer to those who have called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race as “the bedwetting brigade” has fueled anger and dismay.
One senior Democratic official told CNN that tone was “disrespectful.” Another top Democrat in close touch with the White House said it was “disgusting.”
Multiple people taking issue with language like “bedwetting” told CNN that the tone is dismissive and wholly unappreciative of the very serious and widespread concerns inside the Democratic Party about whether Biden is fit to seek and carry out a second term.
In one fundraising email over the weekend sent under the name of deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty, the campaign acknowledged the widespread panic that Biden’s debate performance had caused.
“If you’re like me, you’re getting lots of texts or calls from folks about the state of the race after Thursday. Maybe it was your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or some self-important podcasters,” the email started.
Later, the message said: “The bedwetting brigade is calling for Joe Biden to ‘drop out.’ That is the best possible way for Donald Trump to win and us to lose.”
While the promising fundraising numbers come after one of the lowest points for Biden politically, they also come after a personal low for his opponent, who was convicted in late May on 34 felony counts. Biden’s campaign suggested donors were energized by Trump’s conviction.
“Our Q2 fundraising haul is a testament to the committed and growing base of supporters standing firmly behind the President and Vice President and clear evidence that our voters understand the choice in this election between President Biden fighting for the American people and Donald Trump fighting for himself as a convicted felon,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
Biden attended high-dollar fundraisers in New York City and East Hampton, New York, as well as Red Bank, New Jersey, over the weekend.
June’s performance comes after two consecutive months in which Trump’s political operation outraised the Biden campaign, owing in part to a flood of donations after Trump’s criminal conviction.
