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The biggest Democrat-supporting names on Wall Street are holding an all-hands Zoom call to rally financial support for Kamala Harris, sources tell The Post.
Major New York financial players including Avenue Capital CEO Marc Lasry, Lazard President Ray McGuire, Centerview co-founder Blair Effron, Paul Weiss Chair Brad Karp and C Street co-founder Brian Mathis will connect with around 40 other prominent Wall Street titans on the call Wednesday at 3PM, according to the insiders.
The vice president has gained huge momentum since President Joe Biden said Sunday he will not seek re-election in November, with a jaw-dropping $100 million pledged, according to her campaign.
However, many of Harris’ most pragmatic supporters told The Post they are preparing for what they believe will be a dead heat between her and Republican candidate Donald Trump at the ballot box.
“It’s a real race now with Harris — a lot of people on the sidelines are getting in,” one source involved with organizing the call said.
The source added he plans to donate seven figures once the initial wave of support quiets down and the “fight”, as he puts it, begins.
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
- Kamala Harris campaign flooded with ‘record-breaking’ $81 million in donations in first 24 hours after Biden drops out
- Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he resigned, set him up to fail at Trump debate: sources
- Schumer, Pelosi played ‘good cop, bad cop’ to convince Biden to drop out with ex-speaker stating, ‘Easy way or the hard way’
- Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading ‘coup’ against Biden, call to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’
The Wall Street effort to support Harris pits the bankers against notable Silicon Valley billionaires like Tesla founder Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreesen and David Sacks who have pledged their support the other way and endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket.
Musk has personally pledged over a hundred million dollars to Trump’s campaign over the coming months.
Wall Street sources told The Post they see Kamala as standing for more regulation and higher taxes, but she has gained support for appearing more stable and reliable than her Republican running mate.
“Wall Street doesn’t like Trump’s impetuous nature and lack of predictability,” one fund manager said.
“They like moderate, predictable things and if she wins and the House and Senate goes to the GOP its business as usual.”
Lasry, who runs a hedge fund and is also part owner of NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks, has been a key fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominees — he hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and for Barack Obama in 2012 where he introduced the candidates to other prominent New York financiers.
Lasry and Effron were part of Harris’ finance committee when she ran for president in 2020.
They switched their allegiance to Biden when Harris dropped out of the campaign. However, unlike LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, they had been quiet in recent months about whether they were committed to fundraising for Biden in the current election cycle.
Hoffman, in particular, has been vocal about switching his support from Biden to Harris, and pledging money to her campaign.