U.S. President Joe Biden arrives at the White House to deliver remarks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s request for immunity from federal prosecution for subverting the 2020 election, in Washington, U.S., July 1, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
President Joe Biden is facing an uprising from some of his own party’s wealthy donors, including a Republican heiress. Disney family fortune, which says it will no longer fund the Democratic Party until Biden steps down after his disastrous debate performance.
Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to suspend her donations to the party she has funded for years until Biden steps down. The president has said he has no plans to drop out of the race, despite calls to do so.
“I intend to stop contributing to the party until they replace Biden as the leader of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are too high,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden does not resign, the Democrats will lose. I am absolutely certain of that. The consequences of that defeat will be truly disastrous.”
The Democratic Party as a whole has been in a state of panic since Biden struggled to make headway in the debate against former President Donald Trump last week. Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett called on Biden to drop out of the race, suggesting that his debate performance proved to voters that the president is incapable of taking on Trump and overcoming his poll deficit.
A New York Times-Sienna College poll conducted after 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 long supported Democrats. She donated $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate Action Committee in April, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. The committee has donated $35,000 to Democrats running for congressional seats, according to OpenSecrets data.
According to OpenSecrets, Disney donated $150,000 in 2014 to Planned Parenthood Votes, a PAC affiliated with the health care nonprofit. That PAC spent more than $400,000 this election cycle supporting Democrats, including $26,000 for Biden.
Disney has touted Vice President Kamala Harris as a strong alternative to Biden, saying she would be able to defeat Trump.
“We have a great vice president. If Democrats would tolerate any of her perceived flaws, even a tenth of what they tolerated with Biden (and let’s not kid ourselves about the place of race and gender in this inequality) and if Democrats could find a way to stop dithering and rally behind her, we could win this election by a landslide,” Disney said.
And she’s not the only one holding off on giving until Biden steps down. Gideon Stein, the president of the Moriah Fund, said he’s decided to suspend $3.5 million in planned donations to nonprofits and political organizations tied to the presidential race.
“Joe Biden has been a very effective president, but unless he steps down, my family and I are suspending over $3 million in planned donations to nonprofits and political organizations tied to the presidential race, with the exception of a few downstream voting efforts,” Stein said. “Virtually every major donor I’ve spoken to believes we need a new candidate to defeat Donald Trump.”
Karla Jurvetson, a philanthropist and major Democratic donor, suggested in a private call with donors Tuesday that she shares the sentiment of holding off on giving until Biden resigns and that she may ultimately make that decision, according to a person familiar with her remarks. The person was granted anonymity so she could speak freely about a private conversation.
A spokesperson for Jurvetson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Jurvetson is among the top 50 donors nationwide this cycle, having given more than $5 million to Democrats, according to OpenSecrets. She has given more than $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund this cycle, according to FEC records.
According to the data, Jurvetson gave more than $30 million to Democrats in 2020.
