Political exposure at entertainment venues are looked at as a good way to reach some voters, supporters and to add pizazz to a campaign and make a few bucks….
These fundraisers are not necessarily illicit affairs. Candidates are generally allowed to spend their campaign funds as they wish, including renting out corporate space for fundraisers at market rate. In these cases, the event spaces just happen to be at venues for entertainers headlining the highest grossing concert tours in history. And those spaces can cost thousands of dollars.
The concerts, however, do not appear to be raking in the cash for lawmakers.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) rented a suite at Swift’s second Las Vegas show for a March fundraiser that he estimated netted profits between $20,000 and $30,000, after expenses. His campaign reported spending more than $17,500 on the ticket resale platform StubHub in January, and more than $6,000 for catering at the concert venue, Allegiant Stadium. Tickets to the fundraiser went for $2,500 each, according to an invite reviewed by POLITICO. Swalwell could not remember the exact number of attendees, but estimated there were between 12-40 people.
“No one leaves a Taylor Swift concert sad,” he said. “It’s like one of the happiest, most uplifting, uniting experiences I think anyone can be a part of, and my job, you don’t get a lot of that.”
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) estimated her May fundraiser at a Swift concert in Philadelphia netted $25,000 for her campaign. About 18 people attended, she said. Tickets went for $3,000 a person, or $5,000 for two. Some attendees paid less than that, and some paid more.
These kinds of events are, to a certain extent, nothing new. In 2015, The Washington Post reported that members of Congress were inviting donors to Taylor Swift’s 1989 Tour at Nationals Park. That mix of lawmakers appeared to be more bipartisan than the group attending the most recent Beyoncé and Swift tours. An initial POLITICO review of campaign disbursements only turned up Democrats’ fundraisers.
When asked why Democrats may be more likely to host their fundraisers at the Eras Tour, Dean said she wasn’t sure. But her granddaughter, Aubrey, the “certified Swiftie,” chimed in with a possible reason…..