Super PAC reveals the big donors bankrolling Biden onslaught in Iowa
January 31, 2020Donors backing Joe Biden pooled $3.8 million into a super PAC helping the former vice president during the final months of 2019, led by a $1 million check from San Francisco real estate mogul George Marcus.
The super PAC, Unite the Country, was formed in October as Biden was under attack from President Donald Trump and Democrats skeptical of Biden's weak fundraising in the presidential race. The former vice president has since regained his footing in presidential race, and Unite the Country has continued collecting money and has aired $5 million in ads in Iowa helping boost Biden’s fortunes there.
Marcus' $1 million donation is, so far, the single biggest contribution so far to aid a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
Among the dozens of Biden loyalists who gave to the PAC were investment banker Roger Altman, chairman of Evercore and former a former Clinton administration official, and South Carolina lawmaker Dick Harpootlian, who each gave $250,000. Democratic megadonor Bernard Schwartz, chairman of BLS Investments and a top supporter of the Clintons, gave the PAC $100,000. Boston Red Sox chairman Thomas Werner gave $75,000, and financier Blair Effron, previously a major supporter of Kamala Harris, gave $50,000.
But in addition to airing TV ads in Iowa, the super PAC has had to spend money to get money. Unite the Country spent $247,000 on fundraising consulting in November and December alone. The group also conducted nearly $200,000 in focus groups during that time, as the super PAC sought to learn more about voters' views on Biden and rival candidates before it spent millions on TV ads.
Marcus has donated millions over the years to helping Democrats in Congress, including $10 million helping the party take back the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. In addition to donating $1 million to the pro-Biden super PAC, Marcus has helped bundle money for the former vice president, co-hosting events such as a fundraiser last October in Palo Alto where ticket prices ranged between $1,500 and $10,000, which nabbed guests a VIP reception with Biden himself.
Biden is “probably the most sterling individual that we could imagine would occupy the office of the White House,” Marcus said at the time.
While Biden's super PAC is staying all positive on the primary airwaves — Steve Schale, a Unite the Country adviser, has said the group will not attack other Democrats — another super PAC funded by pro-Israel Democrats has also entered the fray in Iowa with an ad criticizing Biden's nearest rival at the top of most Iowa polls: Bernie Sanders. People in the ad discuss Sanders' ideology and reference his 2019 heart attack as they question whether he can beat Trump in a general election.
That super PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, which made a buy of nearly $700,000 to air that ad in Iowa before the caucuses, raised nearly $2.3 million in the second half of 2019, according to a new campaign finance disclosure. Nearly $1 million of DMFI's funds came from Stacy Schusterman, the chair of Samson Energy Company, while another half-million dollars came from Gary Lauder, a venture capitalist from the Lauder cosmetics family.
Source: https://www.politico.com/