A Rare In-Person NYC Fundraiser for Kamala Harris Boasts $1 Million Tickets

(Bloomberg) -- Kamala Harris will meet with donors in Manhattan for a fundraising event that is being billed by organizers as a final chance to see Harris in New York before the election. 

Tickets for the Sept. 22 “Afternoon with Vice President Kamala Harris” start at $500 and go up to $1 million, an option that gives donors access to two additional events — a “Liberty luncheon” and a reception for top donors — and a photo with Harris.

Since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, Harris has largely stayed out of fundraising, leaving that role to surrogates including her husband Doug Emhoff, her running mate Tim Walz, and other politicians including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Instead she has focused her public appearances mostly in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina.

The Manhattan stop is sandwiched in between one in Washington this past weekend, and another planned for Sept. 29 in Los Angeles, designed to tap into traditional big-cash reservoirs for the party. When Biden was campaigning, his team used the model of large events with multiple headliners of past presidents and celebrities like George Clooney, to bring in major hauls: $30 million in Los Angeles and another $26 million in New York. 

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Harris’ campaign has built a large cash lead over Donald Trump. She raised $361 million in August, nearly three times what the Republican nominee reported.

When Taylor Hanex, a financial advisor who lives in Midtown Manhattan, saw the Harris invitation, she bought a ticket almost immediately for $50,000, a level that allows her to have a photo with Harris. It’s the first check she’s written since Harris took the top of the ticket.

“We want to hear Kamala in person, we want to see the crowd, enjoy the enthusiasm — we want to be part of it,” Hanex said. “I was figuring I better go to this one because she probably isn’t going to come back.” 

Hanex was told of the invitation by Melissa Prober, who’s based in Brooklyn and is a national co-chair of Women for Harris. 

“This is the hottest ticket in town,” Prober said. She sent the invitation to her network on Sunday, which she called her “single best day of fundraising during the entire campaign in terms of both number of donations and total raised.” 

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