Sen. Elizabeth Warren has forsworn private fundraisers for her presidential campaign, focusing instead on raising money online. But as the Democrat gathered steam in the second quarter of 2019, some of the biggest names in the donor-rich tech and entertainment industries decided to chip in anyway.
Actors Amy Schumer, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds were among the Hollywood heavyweights who donated to Warren’s campaign in recent months, according to quarterly disclosure documents filed with the FEC on Monday.
Schumer gave $5,600; Johansson $2,800; and Reynolds $2,000.Shonda Rhimes, the prolific star television producer of shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal,” gave $2,800 to Warren’s campaign as did actor and director Rob Reiner. Screenwriter and “Lost” creator Damon Lindelof and his wife, Heidi, also each contributed $2,800, the maximum individual amount for an election.
Democratic Hollywood fundraiser Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former head of DreamWorks, gave $2,800 to Warren in the second quarter, as did his wife, Marilyn.
Donors who gave the maximum contribution account for a tiny 2 percent of the $19.8 million Warren raised in the second quarter, most of which came in online from small donors. But Warren's growing big-name support reflects the enthusiasm that has built up for her campaign since the beginning of the year. She raised just over $6 million in the first quarter of 2019.
Warren also drew some high-profile donations from Silicon Valley, which she has targeted during her campaign with a proposal to break up tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google.
Tech supporters included John Macfarlane, the founder of Sonos, who gave $2,500 and Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy, who contributed $2,800.
Chamath Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive who now runs a tech-focused venture capital firm Social Capital, kicked in $5,000.Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine