The Biden and Trump campaigns held rival fundraisers for American ex-pats in London last week.
The Biden fundraiser was hosted by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour while the Trump fundraiser, hosted by Australian actress Holly Valance, featured Donald Trump Jr. and his perennial fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle.
According to a social media post from former Trump Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, the London fundraiser brought in nearly $2 million for the Trump campaign, which Grenell described as “record breaking.”
It was unclear how much the Biden campaign raised in Wintour’s event.
Tickets for the Trump event ranged from $10,000 to $100,000.
UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage was also in attendance. Valance, who appeared in the long-running Australian soap “Neighbours” has reportedly become a prominent face in the Reform Party.
London has long been considered an ideal location to raise money for US elections from US citizens living and working abroad.
In 2012, actress Gwyneth Paltrow hosted a fundraiser for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. That same year, then-GOP nominee Mitt Romney also held a fundraiser in London.
Wintour, a longtime Democrat supporter, also hosted a March fundraiser in Paris for Biden’s reelection campaign during Fashion Week.
Like Hillary Clinton in 2016, President Biden is relying heavily on celebrity fundraisers to fill his campaign coffers. Last Saturday, the Biden campaign raised $28 million in a star-studded event in Los Angeles that featured actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as former President Barack Obama.
Biden and the DNC have been outpacing their Republican rivals in fundraising throughout the 2024 election cycle. However, the Trump campaign outraised the president for the first time in April, raising $76 million compared to Biden’s $51 million.
While the May fundraising numbers have yet to be filed with the Federal Elections Commission, the Trump campaign saw a massive windfall of donations following his May 30 conviction in the hush money trial, raising nearly $53 million in just 24 hours.
