Elizabeth Warren to Headline High-Dollar Fundraiser for Joe Biden

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will be headlining a fundraiser for former rival Joe Biden on June 15, despite her past condemnation of high-dollar fundraising events.

“Please join Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren for a virtual reception Monday June 15, 2020, the flier for the virtual event reads:

Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN's fundraiser for Joe BIDEN will be on June 15, per an invite donors have received. pic.twitter.com/6ZUvMn1PJV

— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) May 29, 2020

Warren’s participation in the event comes with a dose of controversy, as many supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) continue to blame her for their candidate’s failure – from brawling over an alleged conversation on a woman running being unable to win the presidency to her refusal to drop out prior to Super Tuesday – the day Sanders’ campaign truly began to lose its delegate grip.

While Sanders performed exceptionally well in the first primary states,  Biden saw a slew of support following his long-expected victory in South Carolina’s primary. Both Pete Buttigieg (D) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), former competitors, abruptly dropped out of the race and threw their weight behind the former vice president. Warren, Sanders’ ideological ally, refused to yield, remaining in the race despite poor performances in early primary states. Many in the Sanders camp still blame her refusal to drop out prior to Super Tuesday to Sanders’ struggle, contending that she split the far-left vote instead of encouraging progressives to consolidate their support behind a single candidate.

Even after dropping out, Warren refused to endorse her self-described “friend,” ultimately backing Biden as he remained the last man standing.

Warren’s participation in the Biden fundraiser is also controversial, as she spent the bulk of her own presidential candidacy swearing off big fundraisers, touting grassroots support despite her own past of courting big donors and attending swanky fundraisers. In fact, the Massachusetts senator’s involvement with such fundraisers is fairly recent. She held a winery fundraiser in 2018 with perks for big donors, including a souvenir wine bottle and “VIP experiences” for those who donated $2,700.

Overall, Warren has received support from at least 30 billionaires over the course of her political career and has accepted the assistance of super PACs, one of which tried to save her floundering campaign:

2020 Watch: Asked whether she'll disavow a super PAC backing her bid, @ewarren says "if all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in, I’ll lead the charge. But that’s how it has to be. It can’t be the case that a bunch of people keep them and one or two don’t" pic.twitter.com/DfW3RfsMQ3

— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) February 21, 2020

As Breitbart News detailed, the Persist PAC was largely funded by a single wealthy Silicon Valley doctor and Democrat megadonor Karla Jurvetson, who gave a $14.6 million donation in February.

The former presidential hopeful also notoriously refused to say if she would bar her running mate from attending high-dollar fundraisers in the event of securing the Democrat nomination.

“You know, I think it’s a little premature to be talking about vice presidential. We’re still in primary here, and I’m working hard on this,” she told reporters in October.