Celebrity Planner, Ex-Fund Manager Raising Cash for Biden in Boston

(Bloomberg) -- Celebrity wedding planner Bryan Rafanelli and former hedge fund manager Joe Mazzella are among the business leaders on the guest list for fundraisers for President Joe Biden in Boston on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The events are part of a year-end fundraising blitz that has seen Biden court business leaders and wealthy Democratic donors across the country as he pivots to a likely general election rematch against former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

Jack Connors Jr., founding partner and former CEO of marketing company Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., is expected to join Rafanelli for the first event, which will be held at a hotel, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Rafanelli is the founder and chief executive officer of Rafanelli Events Management Inc.

A spokesperson for the Biden campaign declined to comment.

Alan Solomont, a former ambassador to Spain and the dean emeritus of Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, is hosting the second event, according to people familiar. Solomont is a former chairman of J Street, a liberal Jewish advocacy group. Tali deGroot, national political director of J Street, is also expected to attend, according to the people, along with members of her team.

Donors expected to attend the second event — which will be held at a private residence — include Mazzella, formerly of Highfields Capital Management LP; Analysis Group Inc. CEO and Chair Martha Samuelson; and Paul Samuelson, the co-founder of Lifeyield LLC, the people said.

That event is also expected to see Joseph Alsop, the founder and former CEO of Progress Software Corp.; Ischemix Inc. Chairman Rein Beeuwkes; and Izhar Armony of Charles River Ventures raise money for the president.

Six-time Grammy Award winner James Taylor is also hosting a concert for Biden on Tuesday. Taylor, 75, played at the White House last year for an event to celebrate Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act.

Polls show the president trailing Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head rematch, amid voter concerns about his handling of the economy and his age. Biden, 81, is the oldest US president in history. Trump is 77.

Biden’s campaign announced that it and the Democratic National Committee had raised $71.3 million in the previous quarter. Biden had nearly $91 million in cash on hand, though his fundraising efforts fell short of Trump’s during the same period of his 2020 reelection campaign.

Former Representative Chet Atkins, now a partner at Tremont Strategies Group; and Brad Meslin, a co-founder of CSP Associates, are also on the guest list for the second fundraiser.

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