President Joe Biden has a two-day stint in San Francisco and Silicon Valley this week, attending fundraisers reportedly being hosted by Marissa Mayer and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla.
Plenty of eagle-eyed Redditors noticed something odd Tuesday: An aircraft that appears to be Marine Force One, which is the president’s helicopter, flying over the Bay Area. But President Biden was not here, so the whole thing seemed a mystery. Yet that mystery might now be solved, as Bay City News reports that President Biden will reportedly be in the Bay Area on Thursday and Friday.
What’s Marine One doing in the Bay Area?
byu/longdarkandstormy insanfrancisco
Bay City News says he will be here for “campaign receptions,” which is just another way of saying “fundraisers.” The Bay Area News Group has further details on the bigwig donors involved, saying that “former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla would be among the Democratic donors attending.”
New: Here is the invite for the Marissa Mayer and Zack Bogue fundraiser for Biden this Friday in Palo Alto.
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) May 7, 2024
Two ticket prices: $30,000 and $50,000.
Gavin Newsom expected to attend.
Follows an event hosted shortly before by @vkhosla in Portola Valley. pic.twitter.com/LW83iNeCuV
Though it turns out those two will be doing more than just attending. Puck News’ Teddy Schleifer did some digging to find that Mayer and her husband Zack Bogue are hosting one Friday event in Palo Alto. Tickets for that are $50,000 apiece, or on the low end, $30,000 apiece. And Gavin is expected to be there, too!
Scoop —
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) May 1, 2024
💰💰💰
Joe Biden is returning to Silicon Valley next month to raise money.
The host of this upcoming fundraiser: @vkhosla.
May 10 in Portola Valley. pic.twitter.com/nq3dcpoqIp
And that’s not the only Biden fundraiser Friday, as prior to that, Sun Microsystems co-founder and AI-happy venture capitalist Vinod Khosla will also be hosting a Friday Biden fundraiser. That one’s set to be held in Portola Valley, a wealthy enclave in eastern San Mateo County.
It's a First Family affair.@FLOTUS will be in the Bay Area too, raising money a day before Joe hits the hustings.
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) May 3, 2024
Hosts are Stephanie and Mark Robinson, ascendant bundlers in Marin. pic.twitter.com/eunTAq7oBM
But what about Thursday in San Francisco? There are no Biden events announced here Thursday. But Schleifer points out what is probably more than just a coincidence, which is that there’s a Jill Biden fundraiser scheduled for Thursday night, hosted by investors Stephanie and Mark Robinson, in Marin County’s Kentfield.
So it seems like Biden is cleaning up on the tech money front, huh? Don’t count on it. There is also an emerging Trumper front in the venture capitalist set, as VC and big recall backer David Sacks is reportedly hosting a Trump fundraiser in SF later this spring, for whichever VC bros are not fully on the RFK, Jr. bandwagon by now.
Related: Gavin Newsom Throwing Big-Bucks SF Fundraising Event for Biden During APEC [SFist]
Image: STURTEVANT, WISCONSIN - MAY 08: U.S. President Joe Biden arrives for an event at Gateway Technical College’s iMet Center on May 08, 2024 in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. During the event, Biden spoke about Microsoft’s plan to invest $3.3 billion to build an artificial intelligence data center in the state. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)