Hollywood film director J.J. Abrams and wife Katie McGrath each donated $125,000 to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group backed by former President Barack Obama and chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder working to support Democrats in upcoming elections through redistricting reform.
The Washington D.C.-based group finished July with an overall fundraising haul of $10.8 million, Politico reports.
“The NDRC’s significant fundraising in its first six months will allow us to take on gerrymandering and reform our electoral system,” Holder said, according to Politico. “This will be done through our courts, at the ballot box, and through support of ballot initiatives that create nonpartisan commissions and other electoral reforms.”
Producer J.J. Abrams (L) and First Lady Michelle Obama discuss Joining Forces with Hollywood Trade Representatives at the Writers Guild Theatre on June 13, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
An armored limo for US President Barack Obama is seen at the home of director J.J. Abrams while the president attends a fund raiser October 10, 2015 in Pacific Palisades, California. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
Other major donations came from Chicago media mogul Fred Eychaner and Florida hedge fund tycoon Donald Sussman, who each gave $500,000.
The committee saw a particularly large chunk of their donations come after Obama headlined a star-studded fundraiser earlier this month.
The former president’s support, said spokesman Kevin Lewis, will help the organization take action against “unfair gerrymandering practices that leave too many American voters feeling voiceless in the electoral process.”
Abrams and McGrath have become big-money contributors to Democrats in recent years.
In 2015, the couple hosted then-President Obama at their Pacific Palisades home for a $33,400-per-plate fundraiser to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The fundraiser was reported to have brought in more than $750,000 for the DSCC.
Abrams and McGrath also donated at least $1 million to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election cycle.
“We believe in her as the strongest candidate,” Abrams told the Daily Beast in 2015. “She does have the experience and the politics. She is compassionate, and right.”
Abrams also produced a video for former First Lady Michelle Obama that was shown ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last July.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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