Some of Biden’s Biggest Fundraisers Come From Wall Street

Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s list of his campaign’s biggest fundraisers includes executives from major asset managers including Blackstone, GMO, Bridgewater Associates, and Warburg Pincus. 

The Biden campaign released a list of more than 800 names, all of whom raised at least $100,000 for the campaign and its “affiliated joint fundraising committees” over the weekend.  

“Very senior heads of investment banks, founders of hedge funds, and executives at private equity firms are very openly supporting Biden,” said Charles Myers, who is listed among the mega fundraisers. Myers worked at Evercore and UBS before starting a policy advisory firm.  

Political campaigns are not required to release lists of these top campaign fundraisers, known as bundlers, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which aggregates campaign contributions via its Open Secrets platform. President Donald Trump’s campaign has not released its list of bundlers.  

Biden’s list includes Avenue Capital Group founder Marc Lasry, who has been vocally supportive of the campaign on CNBC and elsewhere, as well as famed short-seller James Chanos, who expressed support for Biden in February 2019. Open Secrets data shows that although Chanos gave to several Democratic candidates in the 2016 election, he did not financially support Hillary Clinton’s campaign. 

According to Myers, Biden has raised more money from Wall Street than Hillary Clinton did in 2016.   

“There’s a real sense that we need to get back to much more stable and predictable policymaking,” he said by phone. “Everything is overwhelming and exhausting. People want to get back to a sense of stability.” 

Myers said he believes Trump’s policy decisions make it more difficult to make investment decisions. “It's very hard to make medium- and long-term capital allocation decisions under President Trump because you don’t know what the White House is doing next,” he said.

Two Blackstone employees — president and COO Jonathan Gray and executive vice president Hamilton James — were also on the list. James reportedly hosted a June fundraiser for Biden, according to Bloomberg. Both are long-time Democratic donors. 

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Several firm founders were among the major fundraisers, including Evercore founder Roger Altman, Lone Pine Capital founder Stephen Mandel, Centerbridge Partners co-founder Mark Gallogly, Siris Capital co-founder Frank Baker, and Eric Mindich, founder of the now-defunct hedge fund Eton Park.  

Bridgewater chief operating officer Brian Kreiter, Moelis & Co. managing director William Derrough, and GMO’s general counsel Jon Feigelson were also among Biden’s mega fundaisers. Oak Hill Capital’s John Monsky, Centerview Partners co-founder Blair Effron, John Vogelstein of Warburg Pincus, and Insight Partners managing director Deven Parekh are also on the list.  

Two of the fundraisers — Rob Stavis, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and Faiza Saeed, partner at Cravath, Swaine, and Moore — both appear to be first-time presidential campaign donors, Open Secrets data shows.