Biden team invites donors to Washington as reelection launch nears

President Biden will meet with top Democratic donors in Washington at the end of next week as he moves closer to launching his reelection campaign, according to people familiar with the plans.

Biden’s team has invited roughly 50 to 100 of the party’s top fundraisers and bundlers to a Friday night event with the president with the goal of rallying support ahead of an official announcement, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private event.

The details of the summit are still being finalized, and it’s possible Biden has dinner with the donors on Friday night and that his aides host a briefing for them Saturday. Biden’s aides have yet to finalize the campaign leadership structure, but top White House officials, including Anita Dunn and Jen O’Malley Dillon, have been overseeing the planning efforts.

Invites to the meeting were made by phone from officials working with the Democratic National Committee, the people said. Among those invited to the summit are Democratic Govs. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, two of the party’s largest and most prominent fundraisers.

The donor summit comes as Biden’s aides ramp up preparations for a reelection announcement, which could come as soon as next week. The announcement, which is likely to be made through a video, could come as early as Tuesday, which would be timed to the anniversary of Biden’s 2020 campaign launch.

While preparations have intensified, some close to the process caution that the announcement could slip later into the spring and possibly even into early summer. The White House and the Democratic National Committee declined to comment.

Biden’s team has long eyed President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign announcement in April 2011 as a benchmark for their own planning, but they have repeatedly declined to set a firm timeline.

For months, Biden has signaled that he planned to run for reelection, but he has held off on officially declaring his candidacy.

“I’ve already made that calculus,” Biden told reporters during last week’s trip to Ireland when asked about his reelection plans. “We’ll announce it relatively soon. But the trip here just reinforced my sense of optimism about what can be done.”

In late February, first lady Jill Biden said her husband is ready to seek reelection. “He says he’s not done,” she told the Associated Press. “He’s not finished what he’s started. And that’s what’s important.” Asked if all that remained was to choose a time and place for the announcement, the first lady responded, “pretty much.”

Still, Biden’s aides have argued that there is no rush to enter the race, as no formidable challengers to the president’s bid for another term have emerged within the Democratic Party. A primary challenge appeared more likely at certain points last year, but when Democrats did far better than expected in the November midterms, those prospects largely faded.

Meanwhile, a fierce battle is shaping up on the Republican side, as former president Donald Trump faces an expected bid by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, while figures such as former vice president Mike Pence, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) are also positioning themselves.

Biden aides say they are balancing competing interests: The earlier the president launches a campaign, the sooner they can start raising money. But the later he launches, the more time his team can spend casting Biden exclusively in the role of president who remains above the fray while Republicans attack each other.

The New York Times first reported on next week’s donor summit in Washington.

Biden and his team still have a series of decisions to finalize, including the campaign leadership structure and the location of his campaign headquarters.

Over the last several weeks, Biden’s aides have interviewed several candidates for top jobs including Jenn Ridder, a Biden 2020 campaign alumnus; Emma Brown, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly’s campaign manager; Quentin Fulks, Georgia Sen. Raphael G. Warnock’s campaign manager; White House director of intergovernmental affairs Julie Chavez Rodriguez; Sam Cornale, the executive director of the Democratic National Committee; and Roger Lau, the committee’s deputy executive director.

Last week, Democrats chose Chicago as the host city for their party’s 2024 presidential nominating convention, selecting the Midwestern city over Atlanta and New York. The decision, which was blessed by Biden, elevates a deep-blue city in a Democratic-controlled state, rather than locating the convention in a swing state that is more pivotal for the Democrats’ chances.

But putting the gathering in Chicago spotlights a region critical to Democrats’ hopes of keeping control of the White House and Senate in 2024. In 2020, Biden’s ability to wrest Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania back from Trump was critical to his victory.

“Chicago is a great choice to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” Biden said in a statement. “Democrats will gather to showcase our historic progress including building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down.”

Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report.