President Joe Biden headlined a fundraiser in New York on Tuesday night that raised about $2 million for Democratic Party organizations, and featured celebrity guests including Robert De Niro and the city’s mayor, Eric Adams.
The event, on the night before Biden is to address the United Nations General Assembly, was held at the Manhattan home of Henry Munoz, a designer and Democratic activist who owns the comedy production company and website Funny or Die.
About 100 people attended the event, which benefited the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, according to a DNC official.
In his remarks, Biden urged donors to keep their focus on this year’s midterms and warned of the damage to his agenda if Republicans were to win control of Congress.
“This isn’t about 2024, it’s about 2022,” Biden said. “They retake the House and Senate we’ll have a different world. I’ll be spending all my time with a veto pen.”
The Republican National Committee quickly released a statement denouncing the event.
Biden also defended his remark in a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic “is over,” which, as he pointed out, brought criticism.
“By the way, If you haven’t gotten your boosters, get them,” Biden said. “But it basically is not where it was,” he added of the pandemic.
The president has stepped up his appearances to tout a recent string of legislative and policy victories with less than two months to go before the midterms. Biden and Democrats intend to translate those wins into gains at the ballot box where they are fighting to hold onto their majorities in Congress.
Congressional Democrats passed a major climate, tax, and health care package. Last week, Biden also helped broker a tentative deal to avert a disastrous railroad strike that would have wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy. But Biden must still confront persistent inflation, which is at a 40-year high, and is a political liability for Democrats.
The president has also stepped up his rhetoric against Donald Trump in recent speeches, accusing him and “MAGA Republicans,” a reference to the former president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, of threatening American democracy.
