2020 election: Elizabeth Warren set to hold lucrative fundraiser for Joe Biden after publicly endorsing Democratic hopeful

Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose full-throated opposition to high-dollar fundraising events was a central tenet of her presidential campaign, has agreed to host such a gathering of donors for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who is considering her to be his running mate.

The online event is set to take place on 15 June, according to three people with knowledge of the plans, who spoke under condition of anonymity to share the details.

During her presidential run, Warren explicitly vowed not to attend private fundraisers or dial-up rich donors. A Massachusetts progressive, she championed tax increases on the wealthy and at times sharply criticised big-money donors. Her rise in public opinion polls last summer deeply concerned many veteran Democratic donors, particularly those on Wall Street and in the banking sector who believed she would damage their industries.

Ms Warren’s spokeswoman declined to comment. Biden campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Ms Warren built a network of high-dollar donors as a senator and used to attend fundraising events, building up her own campaign war chest before she entered the Democratic presidential race. But in late February 2019, as she sought to gain traction in online presidential fundraising, especially among progressives whom senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was also courting, she ruled out big-money events.

“That means no fancy receptions or big money fundraisers only with people who can write the big checks,” Ms Warren said in an email to supporters at the time. “It means that wealthy donors won’t be able to purchase better seats or one-on-one time with me at our events. And it means I won’t be doing ‘call time,’ which is when candidates take hours to call wealthy donors to ask for their support.”

Ms Warren will now mine her old donor network to help Mr Biden as she manoeuvres to become his running mate, a position that she has said she would accept if asked.

While she remains ideologically to Mr Biden’s left, Ms Warren has edged closer to some of his politically pragmatic positions. Ms Warren, a supporter of a single-payer “Medicare for All” system, has voiced support for a proposal more line with Mr Biden’s position of expanding the Affordable Care Act.

All of this follows Ms Warren, before and during the 2020 presidential primaries, offering herself as a candidate who could represent Democrats’ dreams, not their fears that Donald Trump would win a second term if the party nominated anyone other than Mr Biden.

“We can’t choose a candidate we don’t believe in just because we’re too scared to do anything else,” she said during her stump speeches last summer and fall.

Ms Warren struggled to raise money at the outset of her presidential campaign. But after announcing she would refuse to grant private audiences to large donors or conduct high-dollar events, her fundraising took off.

She raised $115.8m (£95.1m) during her campaign — $66.5m (£54.6m) of which came from donors who gave less than $200 (£164).

Before running for president, Ms Warren had a record as a strong fundraiser: during her 2018 Senate re-election bid, she raised $30.8m (£25.3m) for a race in which she faced little serious competition. During her first Senate race, in 2012, she raised $42.5m (£34.9m).

While she did not hold private fundraising events for her own campaign, Warren did appear at multiple such events for the Democratic National Committee. She also, before launching her presidential campaign, contributed funds she’d raised from high-dollar donors to state Democratic parties.

Mr Biden’s other rivals have aided his fundraising since he became the party’s presumptive nominee. Former mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, raised $1m (£821,959) in a “grassroots” online fundraiser on Friday. Mr Buttigieg is scheduled to appear at more fundraising events with Mr Biden next week, as is senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Senator Kamala Harris of California, businessman Andrew Yang and senator Kirsten Gillibrand, all former rivals, are set to appear at Mr Biden’s fundraising events in June.

Mr Sanders sent a fundraising appeal for Mr Biden to his donor list but declined to share his list with the Biden campaign.

The New York Times