Eva Longoria, Ben Affleck among Kamala Harris' celebrity donors
Independent Women's Forum Director of Policy Hadley Heath Manning on Sen. Kamala Harris', (D-Calif.), early fundraising success for her 2020 presidential bid and whether the Senator will need to take a more moderate tone in her presidential campaign.
California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris appears popular among the celebrity crowd, who are contributing impressive sums to her 2020 presidential campaign.
Harris raised $12 million from donors in the first quarter of 2019. She is not accepting donations from PACs.
And while her campaign said most of the donations were under $100, celebrities gave much larger sums.
As first reported by the Los Angeles Times and Politico, during the first three months of 2019 Harris received $5,600 from “The Hunger Games” actress Elizabeth Banks, $5,400 from “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria Baston, $2,800 from actor Ben Affleck, $525 from actress and comedian Lily Tomlin, in addition to $500 from actress, comedian and Emmy award-winning writer Wanda Sykes. Smaller donations also came from actresses Alison Pill and America Ferrera.
Filmmaker J.J. Abrams – known for everything from some of the Star Wars movies to Mission Impossible films and the “Lost” TV series – donated $2,800 to Harris’ campaign. Lee Daniels, known for the movie “Precious” and the TV series “Empire” – donated $2,700.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, former CEO of DreamWorks Animation, gave $2,800, while Gary Newman, former Fox Television Group executive, contributed $2,700.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Last month, J.J. Abrams and his wife hosted a Hollywood fundraiser for Harris at their home – where tickets cost $2,800 apiece, as first reported by Variety.
According to the L.A. Times, Harris has raised more than $1.7 million from the entertainment industry over the past ten years from a number of donors which are said to include actresses Jane Fonda and Kerry Washington, as well as actor Leonardo DiCaprio.