By Gromer Jeffers Jr.
https://www.dallasnews.com/
President Joe Biden raised $4.5 million during his Dallas fundraising swing, event organizers said.
Biden’s biggest haul from two Wednesday night events was from a fundraiser sponsored by Dallas trial lawyer Russell Budd, who said the event generated $2.5 million.
“This was incredibly successful,” Budd said at the fundraiser. “This is the hottest event of the week for President Biden and the state of Texas.”
A second event, hosted by Dallas businessman Kneeland Youngblood, generated $2 million. Youngblood said the original target for the event was $1.5 million.
“It was a blowout success,” said Youngblood, who was a bundler for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.
Youngblood said organizers and co-hosts of his fundraiser included former Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, Dallas philanthropist Margot Perot, Rozene Pride (the widow of country music legend Charley Pride), former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
Biden spent the night in Dallas and traveled to Houston on Thursday for another fundraising event. The president had no public appearances while in the state. The trip was strictly to pull cash out of Texas, a Republican-dominated state that is expected to send its 40 electoral votes to former President Donald Trump in November.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
