Pete Buttigieg may be stealing some of Joe Biden's donors


Financial anxiety is creeping into former Vice President Joe Biden's Democratic presidential campaign, The New York Times reports.
In a confidential memo this week, Biden's campaign manager Greg Schultz, asked top donors to "dig deep" to help alleviate some of the struggles. The Biden campaign is spending more than it's taking in and only has $9 million in cash on hand, which pales in comparison to Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and even trails South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). One of the cost-cutting solutions being considered is to have campaign staffers sleep at the homes of volunteers.
In the same memo Schultz ultimately dismissed concerns and assured donors the campaign "will have the resources we need to execute our plan." But it's not clear if Biden's supporters feel the same way. Bradley Tusk, who served as a re-election campaign manager for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, hosted a fundraiser Monday for Buttigieg, and he told the Times the crowd was filled with "a lot of those people you would have thought would be Biden people. And they weren't." Tusk said the "feeling in the room was that Biden has already lost."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It can't be said for certain whether that was an accurate read of the room, but it does fall in line with the perception that Buttigieg is looking to snag the moderate Democratic vote from Biden. Still, not everyone's worried. "Any other candidate, it might concern you," Texas Biden bundler Mike Collier said of the campaign's financial situation. "But with someone like Joe, I'm not anywhere near as concerned." Read more at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
August 2 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a tariff self-own, rough times at the Trump golf course, and more
-
5 inexcusably hilarious cartoons about Ghislaine Maxwell angling for a pardon
Cartoons Artists take on the circle of life, Ghislaine's Island, and more
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dad
In the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Trump revives K-12 Presidential Fitness Test
Speed Read The Obama administration phased the test out in 2012, replacing it with a program focused on overall health rather than standardized benchmarks
-
El Salvador scraps term limits, boosting Nayib Bukele
Speed Read New constitutional changes will allow presidents to seek reelection an indefinite number of times
-
Trump assigns tariffs, delays all except on Canada
Speed Read A 35% tariff on many Canadian goods has gone into effect
-
Harris rules out run for California governor
Speed Read The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee ended months of speculation about her plans for the contest
-
Trump sets new tariff rates as deadline nears
Speed Read New tariff rates for South Korea, Brazil and India announced
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardon
Talking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
Senate confirms Trump loyalist Bove to top court
Speed Read The president's former criminal defense lawyer was narrowly approved to earn a lifetime seat
-
Ghislaine Maxwell offers testimony for immunity
Speed Read The convicted sex trafficker offered to testify to Congress about her relationship with late boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein