Kamala Harris to Fundraise in L.A. for 2020 Presidential Bid

By Ted Johnson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will raise money for her presidential campaign in Los Angeles this weekend, making her the first of 2020’s presidential contenders to schedule a formal fundraiser with the city’s deep-pocketed base of donors.

David Cooley, the CEO and founder of the Abbey in West Hollywood, will host an event at his Hancock Park home on Saturday afternoon, with co-hosts including Lance Bass, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Justin Mikita, Todd Hawkins, Michael Kraut, and Dan McCarty, according to a copy of the invite. Another event is also being scheduled for later in the day.

Tickets to the event start at $100 each, and go up to a max of $2,700.

Harris is coming off a successful rollout of her campaign, with estimates that more than 20,000 attended her official launch in Oakland, Calif., last weekend. CNN, meanwhile, said Harris’ town hall on Monday night was the most-watched single candidate town hall ever, drawing almost 2 million viewers. MSNBC had 2.345 million viewers in the time slot and Fox News had 2.256 million, but CNN said it won among adults 25-54.

Harris raised $1.5 million from 38,000 donors in the first 24 hours after she announced her presidential bid, her campaign announced. That will be important in showing higher-dollar donors that her campaign has grassroots energy. A number of traditional bundlers within the entertainment community so far are waiting to see who enters the race before deciding who to endorse.