Joe Biden‘s New York fundraiser this evening with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton is expected to raise more than $25 million, an enormous haul for a one-evening event.
Biden’s reelection campaign has heavily promoted the Radio City Music Hall gathering, which will include musical performances by Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Lizzo, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele, among others.
Around 5,000 are expected to attend the event, while the campaign also has been raising smaller-dollar contributions via an online contest in which participants could win a trip to New York and a photo with the three presidents. Proceeds go to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint committee of the Biden Campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties. The fund accepts individual donations up to $929,600.
The Biden campaign said that the event was “the most successful political fundraiser in history.” In a statement, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-chair of the campaign, called the $25 million sum a “historic raise” and said that the event was “a massive show of force and a true reflection of the momentum to re-elect the Biden-Harris ticket.”
The Biden campaign has been out raising the president’s Republican rival, Donald Trump, who has paid a substantial portion of his legal bills through a network of political action committees, according to The New York Times. Biden’s campaign noted that the $25 million from tonight’s event is $5 million more than the Trump campaign raised in all of February.
The fundraiser will start with a virtual event featuring campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in conversation with Biden, Obama and Clinton. Mindy Kaling will emcee the in-person event, with remarks by First Lady Jill Biden, the musical performances, and Stephen Colbert moderating the on-stage talk with the presidents.
