Vice President Kamala Harris is taking fundraising for the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris re-election effort to the next level as reports have her setting a “grassroots reception” in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Kamala Harris on the comeback trail?
Harris is seen to be the top fundraiser for the Democrats’ presidential re-election bid next year. Martha’s Vineyard is a strategic choice, not only because of the Harris’ familial connection to the area – she has a sister who has a house in Katama – but also because of the fact that the island is home a number of big donors. In fact, Harris is expected to outdo even President Joe Biden in garnering funds for next year’s election.
An email invitation to the event read, “The future of our country is at stake and your engagement is critical. This gathering is an opportunity to come together, reflect on our progress, and plan for the future we envision.”
Set to host the event are Carol and C. Bernard Fulp, Robin Leeds and Wendell Pierce.
Carol Fulp served as the U.S. representative to the United Nations general assembly during the administration of former president Barack Obama, while Leeds was appointed by president Biden to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts and is also the chief executive of a public and political relations firm based in Washington, D.C. C.
Bernard Fulp, Carol’s husband, is a retired banking executive while Wendell Pierce is a Hollywood actor.
Tickets to the reception start at $50 but go up to as much as $10,000 per seat.
Kamala Harris: Stepping up visibility, setting sights on rivals
Besides rallying big-time Democratic donors, Harris is also making more efforts to improve her visibility as the 2024 presidential elections draw near. A source in Harris’ camp told Bloomberg that the vice president is already booked to speak at seven events in this quarter alone, and will likely book more.
She has also spoken out on many key issues, particularly those that involve GOP presidential hopefuls. Harris has especially singled out controversy-riddled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, likely due to the latter’s staunch defense of a controversial middle school curriculum on Black history in his state, part of which states that slaves benefitted from their circumstances by “learning skills” that could be used for personal benefit.
The Florida governor has invited her to debate the issue, but she declined, saying that she would not glorify the issue by participating in a debate.
“There is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: there were no redeeming qualities of slavery,” she told attendees of a religious convention recently held in Orlando, Florida.
The vice president’s tiff with DeSantis could be traced further back though, as she has also criticized the Florida governor in the past on a number of his stances on major issues, such as his lukewarm view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and his immigration policies.
DeSantis has responded in kind, both in words and in action, and in one instance even chartered two planes that dropped off migrants in Martha’s Vineyard, as fellow Republican governor Greg Abbott from Texas unloaded a bus full of migrants at the vice president’s residence in Washington D.C.
Tim Ramos has written for various publications, corporations, and organizations – covering everything from finance, politics, travel, entertainment, and sports – in Asia and the U.S. for more than 10 years.
