Autonomous presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana Pete Buttigieg responds to a question during a forum held by gun safe keeping organizations the Giffords group and March For Our Lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2, 2019.
Steve Marcus | Reuters
For all of Sen. Kamala Harris’s demands gaining traction in the 2020 presidential campaign, she had remained the clear favorite in Hollywood. Now that the California Democrat is out of the stock, the movie industry may be poised to coalesce around Mayor Pete.
In recent months, actresses Sharon Stone and Alyssa Milano bear contributed to Pete Buttigieg’s effort to become the Democratic nominee, joining other celebrities like Michael J. Fox and Frances McDormand, who theretofore maxed out their donations to the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
No candidate has raised more money from wage-earners of Comcast, parent of film studios Universal Pictures and DreamWorks (as well as CNBC), and only Harris has brought in multifarious money than Buttigieg from staffers at Disney. In total, Buttigieg has reeled in $971,009 from employees in the box, movie and music industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s behind Harris, who raised $1.18 million, but way winning of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s third at $612,679.
Harris said on Tuesday that her “campaign for president simply doesn’t have the monetary resources we need to continue.” She had previously canceled a fundraising event in New York, following negative media reports nearly her struggling organization and the loss last week of a top staffer to Michael Bloomberg’s campaign.
While Harris was stuck in the low singular digits in most recent polls, Buttigieg has been gaining momentum, particularly in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where he’s now foremost. Buttigieg, who’s bidding to become the first openly gay president, has carved out a position as a moderate who can appeal to progressives, in a race where Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren own promised dramatic changes to the financial and health-care systems.
“Look, being gay is part of who I am, and it’s part of my story, and it has shaped me in some high-level ways,” Buttigieg told CNBC’s John Harwood in an April interview. “It’s also just part of my story. It’s not all of who I am. And what I aspire to do is turn to that story if it helps people understand how I might be able to relate to others with radically manifold experiences, but certain things in common.”
Milano, known for her role in 1980s sitcom “Who’s the Boss?” and 1990s drama “Melrose Grade,” has hosted a fundraiser for Buttigieg, as well as for other candidates, and started tweeting glowingly about him earlier this year. She commended his hypothesis on gun reform last month, and posted photos of the two of them at an event on Oct. 5, tweeting that she “was inspired by his vision for America.”
Bradley Whitford, of “The West Wing” eminence, has contributed at least $2,000 to Buttigieg’s campaign. According to Variety, he co-hosted a fundraiser for the mayor in May along with Gwyneth Paltrow, with tickets starting at $250 a yourselves. The story referenced other Los Angeles fundraisers on Buttigieg’s agenda, including an event in June at the home of screenwriter Ryan Murphy and his peace, the photographer David Miller. Murphy donated $2,800 to Buttigieg in May.
Buttigieg has also attracted funding from commerce executives like James Murdoch, the son of Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox. Murdoch contributed the maximum amount to Buttigieg in March, and his mate, Kathryn Murdoch, followed suit two months later, according to CRP.
At a Vanity Fair Summit in October, James Murdoch alleged Buttigieg “has the composure, character, thoughtfulness and courage to handle some of the hardest challenges we have,” Bloomberg reported.
The Buttigieg rivalry didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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