Joe Biden’s reelection bid has some tough sledding ahead if the majority of polls that have emerged in recent months are to be believed. His fundraising efforts tell another story, though, with his reelection campaign already raking in significant donations – many coming from longtime Jewish Democratic mega donors.
An analysis of campaign finance disclosures showing contributions to Biden’s campaign and pro-Biden PACs and super PACs for 2023 illustrates a deep groundswell of support from Jewish-Democratic benefactors. They make up a significant portion of the president’s fundraising as he begins his reelection bid in earnest.
The donors in question – many of whom are in the finance industry, with others connected to Hollywood and Silicon Valley – vary in their prioritization of Israel as a campaign issue, as well as their respective involvements in local Jewish communities and philanthropies.
Their steadfast and deep-pocketed support for Biden indicates how the Democratic Party has generations-deep support within the American-Jewish community.
Polls have continuously shown that Jewish voters vastly prefer Biden over Donald Trump, with Israel rarely being among voters’ top priorities.
Despite this, American Jews are among the few groups who have stuck with Biden amid plummeting poll numbers (many of which stem from his approach to Israel, which centrist Democrats deem a threshold issue).
Haim Saban is perhaps the key pro-Israel mega donor for Biden, significantly overlapping between both the president’s reelection bid and AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC.
He has given over US$936,000 to Biden, after donating US$ one million to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC.
While federal political action committees have strict limits on the amounts they can contribute, a super PAC is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to campaign independently for candidates for federal office.
Saban has long been one of the most important donors and fundraisers for the Democrats, generating millions of dollars for the party over the years. He has also made significant financial investments in pro-Israel organizations such as AIPAC and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.
Saban also collaborated with late Republican mega donor Sheldon Adelson on the Israeli American Council, which was founded to organize Israeli expats living in the United States. He told The New Yorker in 2010 that he was “a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.”
Joining Saban as an overlapping mega donor is casino magnate Neil Bluhm. He has already given more than US$1.4 million this cycle to the Biden super PAC, on top of US$200,000 to United Democracy Project. His daughter Leslie, a social entrepreneur who sits on the AmeriCorps board of directors following an appointment from Biden in 2021, has given over US$554,000.
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