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Elevating marketing campaign cash from Hollywood after a protracted hiatus throughout {industry} strikes, Vice President Kamala Harris sounded assured as she advised supporters Monday that President Biden will win the 2024 election.
“It won’t be straightforward,” she stated. “There are highly effective forces in our nation proper now which can be making an attempt to divide our nation. And it is going to be incumbent on us to carry it collectively for the sake of the energy of our nation and our future.”
Harris delivered the remarks at a glitzy fundraiser held on the Los Angeles dwelling of Hollywood philanthropists and legal professionals Leslie and Cliff Gilbert-Lurie. The occasion confirmed how Democrats are intensifying efforts to draw political donations from Hollywood now that the leisure {industry} strikes have ended. It additionally revealed a number of the challenges Democrats confront because the celebration splinters over the Israel-Hamas conflict, with protesters staging a small demonstration exterior the fundraiser.
Harris and Biden have been largely absent from the political fundraising circuit in Los Angeles this yr as Hollywood was hobbled by putting actors and screenwriters pushing for higher pay and advantages. The heightened stress between Hollywood staff and studio executives made tapping into donations from the leisure {industry} politically fraught. Candidates didn’t wish to danger crossing picket traces, and executives didn’t wish to be seen slicing large checks to politicians whereas negotiating with staff.
However with actors reaching a deal to finish their strike earlier this month, following the conclusion of the writers’ strike in September, Hollywood is resuming its position as a serious supply of marketing campaign money for nationwide Democrats.
Monday’s fundraiser included greater than 140 visitors and raised near $500,000, Leslie Gilbert-Lurie advised the group gathered at her dwelling’s poolside lounge with lights strung round bushes within the yard. Inside the fashionable dwelling adorned with artwork, folks sipped wine and nibbled on crostinis with squash and truffle walnut hummus with pomegranates.
The fundraiser additionally attracted about two dozen protesters against the Israel-Hamas conflict who yelled “Free Palestine!” and “Disgrace on you!” as folks entered the house. Earlier than Harris arrived, they threw pretend blood in entrance of the Gilbert-Luries’ home and positioned crimson handprints on the bottom. A couple of dozen law enforcement officials stood in entrance of the house.
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, who’s the primary Jewish partner of a president or vice chairman, spoke to the group about his work to fight antisemitism and hate.
“You noticed it exterior strolling in right here at the moment,” he stated, referencing the protesters. “That is the occasions that we’re dwelling in proper now.”
Earlier than Harris delivered her remarks standing between two American flags, a girl within the viewers referred to as for a cease-fire. Safety led her out of the house.
Harris advised the viewers to “take a minute” earlier than she continued talking, noting that Individuals must proceed their combat towards antisemitism, Islamophobia and different types of hate.
“It is a very vital second within the historical past of our nation and the historical past of the world, and a lot of what we’ve every fought for and believed in our total lives is at stake on this election and on this second,” she stated.
Whereas politicians have prevented fundraising through the Hollywood strikes, Biden’s marketing campaign has been selecting up donations within the Bay Space. All through this yr, Biden has held fundraisers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, tapping into the area’s tech-industry wealth. Final week, through the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation convention, Biden and Harris attended a Democratic Nationwide Committee fundraiser whereas tons of of pro-Palestinian protesters against the Israel-Hamas conflict chanted exterior the the Retailers Trade Constructing.
In October, Biden’s marketing campaign stated it raised greater than $71 million within the third quarter, surpassing fundraising by former President Trump and GOP major candidates.
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