Democratic donors say they won’t fund party until he quits | Wilnesh News

President Joe Biden is facing protests from some of his party’s wealthy donors, including a family heir. disney The family fortune, they say, will no longer fund Democrats before Biden drops out of the presidential race following a disastrous debate performance.

Abigail DisneyThe granddaughter of Walt Disney Co. co-founder Roy O. Disney told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations from the political party she has funded for years until Biden withdraws. The president said he has no plans to withdraw from the race, despite calls for him to do so.

“I intend to stop any donations to the party unless they replace Biden as the top candidate. This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man who has done an admirable job for his country. Contribution, but the stakes are too high, Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC: “If Biden doesn’t step down, the Democrats will lose. I’m absolutely sure of that. The consequences of failure will be dire. “

The entire Democratic Party has been in a state of panic since Biden performed poorly in a debate with former President Donald Trump last week. Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett called on Biden to withdraw from the race, saying the debate performance proved to voters that the president cannot take on Trump or overcome his gap in the polls.

The New York Times/Siena College polling The debate showed Biden trailing Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters.

Representatives for the Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Abigail Disney has been a long-time supporter of the Democratic Party. She donated $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate PAC in April, according to Federal Election Commission filings. According to OpenSecrets data, PACs have given $35,000 to Democrats running for congressional seats.

According to OpenSecrets, Disney donated $150,000 in 2014 to Planned Parenthood Votes, a PAC affiliated with the health care nonprofit. The PAC has spent more than $400,000 supporting Democrats this election cycle, including $26,000 to Biden.

Disney pointed to Vice President Kamala Harris as a credible alternative to Biden and believed she could defeat Trump.

“We have a wonderful vice president. If Democrats can tolerate any of her shortcomings, even one-tenth of the shortcomings they tolerate in Biden (let’s not kid ourselves about the role race and gender play in this inequality) character), and if Democrats can find a way to stop quibbling and rally around her, we can win this election by a large margin,” Disney said.

She’s not the only one taking a break from gift-giving until Biden is out of office. Gideon Stein, president of the Moriah Fund, said he decided to pause $3.5 million in planned donations earmarked for nonprofits and political organizations related to the presidential campaign.

“Joe Biden has been a very effective president, but unless he removes my family from office, my family and I will be suspending more than $3 million in planned contributions to nonprofits and political organizations associated with the presidential campaign,” Except for some countdown work,” Stein said. “Almost every major donor I’ve talked to believes we need a new candidate to defeat Donald Trump.”

Karla Jurvetson, a philanthropist and major Democratic donor, signaled on a private donor call on Tuesday that she agreed with the idea of ​​pausing donations until Biden leaves office and eventually, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such action may be taken. The person spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about private conversations.

A spokesman for Jurvetson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

According to statistics, Jurvetson is one of the top 50 donors in the country this cycle, giving more than $5 million to Democrats open secret. She donated more than $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund this cycle, according to FEC records.

Data show that Jurvetson donated more than $30 million to Democrats in 2020.