Obama Raises $11 Million for Biden: I Trust Him “To Heal This Country”

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:04 pm

Barack Obama and Joe Biden raised a record-breaking $11 million with a virtual fundraiser on Tuesday. It’s the largest single amount raised by a campaign event so far.

The event brought in $7.6 million from around 175,000 grassroots donors and a further $3.4 million from part of the event aimed at private donors. This makes it the former Vice President’s most successful fundraiser yet.

Former President Obama spoke glowingly of the Democratic nominee.

I am here to say that help is on the way if we do the work, because there’s nobody that I trust more to be able to heal this country and get it back on track, than my dear friend Joe Biden,” he said.

“We can’t be complacent or smug or suggest that somehow it’s so obvious that this president hasn’t done a good job because, look, he won once, and it’s not like we didn’t have a good clue as to how he was going to operate the last time,” Obama said.

Obama endorsed Biden in April once it had become clear he was the presumptive nominee. The former president also addressed the recent protests.

“I’ve run into some folks who are active in the current demonstrations and protests, are passionate about issues, but have voiced or bought into this notion that somehow electoral politics isn’t connected to what’s happening,” he said.

“In the words of Dr. King … pursuing justice, it’s never an either-or proposition, it is a both-and proposition,” he said.

“We have to raise awareness and disrupt the status quo. In order to create space for change.”

Election analysts view Obama and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, as major assets for the Biden campaign. Tuesday’s event is likely just the first of many.

Follow Darragh Roche on Twitter