The co-chair of President Biden’s now-defunct campaign expressed anger at big donors who decided to withhold their contributions and suggested they had forced Biden to forego his re-election efforts.
Following Biden’s announcement that he would no longer run for a second term on Sunday, Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond told CNN that wealthy donors had “created a self-fulfilling prophecy” after Biden’s widely panned debate performance.
“You can’t win without money, and then they were going to point the finger at the candidate. They were going to blame it on Biden,” he said. “For a president that has accomplished so much, it was a no-win situation.”
Richmond also offered a clear message to those who turned away from Biden: “Now those donors need to step the f— up.”
CLOONEY, HOLLYWOOD LINE UP BEHIND HARRIS AS CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS AND CASH POUR IN
President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid. (Evan Vucci, Pool via AP)
During a Thursday morning appearance on CNN, Richmond clarified his statements about the lack of significant contributions to the Biden campaign.
“Was I pissed off at big donors? Absolutely,” he said.
Top Democratic fundraiser Lindy Li expressed a similar sentiment before Biden’s announcement, telling Fox News Sunday that it was getting more and more difficult to bring in donations for Biden.
“Fundraising has – big money fundraising has slowed. People – major donors who have pledged massive amounts of checks, and I’m talking six, seven – 7-figure checks have suddenly disappeared, fallen off the face of the Earth, rescinded their pledges,” Li said.
Li also said that if Biden were to withdraw, it would be a “catastrophic mistake” and “political malpractice” to skip over Vice President Kamala Harris.
‘EXTREME AGENDA’: HARRIS’ PAST RECORD ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION RESURFACES AFTER BIDEN DROPS OUT
Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked early on in the Biden administration with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Central and South America. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/Pool)
Harris raised $100 million from Sunday afternoon – when Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president to succeed him as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee – through Monday night, her campaign announced on Tuesday morning.
The Harris campaign also touted that the fundraising in the wake of the president’s blockbuster news came from more than 1.1 million unique donors, with 62% of them first-time contributors.
The Harris campaign has been spotlighting the surge in fundraising and, in an email release on Monday afternoon, highlighted that the money raised was the “largest 24-hour raise in presidential history.”
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The 1-day haul easily topped the nearly $53 million former President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced that they brought in nearly two months ago through their online digital fundraising platform in the first 24 hours after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in New York City.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.