VP Harris to swoop into region Saturday for sold-out fundraiser in Pittsfield
Published: 07-25-2024 4:40 PM |
PITTSFIELD — Vice President and likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will attend a campaign fundraiser in Pittsfield on Saturday.
She’s the headliner at a star-studded event featuring author-historian Heather Cox Richardson and musical celebrities James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax.
Harris had been listed as the guest at the event when it was announced last week, but after President Biden stepped aside from his reelection campaign, her attendance had been uncertain.
But event co-organizer Sherwood Guernsey confirmed that Harris will be in Pittsfield for the afternoon fundraiser. The location and exact time remain undisclosed for security reasons.
Organizers said the event is a complete sellout, with donations and pledges totaling $1.4 million as of Wednesday evening. All ticket sales will go to the Harris Victory Fund. Ticket prices ranged from $100, a quick sellout, to $12,500.
Guernsey, a Williamstown resident and attorney, is the former chairman and a current member of the Berkshire Democratic Brigades. He is the current president of the Rural Freedom Network, a political action committee grassroots media organization supporting Democratic candidates. He was a state representative from 1983 to 1990 representing North Berkshire in the Massachusetts House.
“My fondest hope is that no other candidate tries to challenge Harris, because we need unity, and we need it now,” Guernsey said earlier this week. “We need the hugest coalition the Democrats have ever had, the largest big tent.”
Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti said he was “excited and looking forward to the event. While Marchetti could not get into operational details, he did address what the city can do to put its best foot forward.
Article continues after...
Yesterday's Most Read Articles
“I am hoping that the entrances to the city look the same way they did Fourth of July weekend, and that our downtown is in pristine shape,” he said.
As for those wishing to get involved? That Marchetti could not address.
“This is a private function, so the city is not involved with the event at this time,” he said.
It’s also very likely that security will be tight.
Following the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life on July 14 in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Secret Service is under intense congressional scrutiny. Agency Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Monday, taking “full responsibility for the security lapse” that allowed a lone gunman at a rally for former President Donald Trump to injure Trump and two others, and kill a spectator.
Evan Dobelle, a former Pittsfield mayor and co-host of Saturday’s event, has served as a senior fundraiser for the Biden-Harris campaign. He said he was in Las Vegas with Biden’s campaign two weeks ago, and that Biden “walked in a circle with 25 Secret Service agents.”
The security requirements for high-level visits have changed a great deal since the late 1970s. But event co-host Kit Dobelle says in her experience as first lady Rosalyn Carter’s chief of staff, handling those logistics eventually becomes second nature.
Last Saturday, Harris appeared at a sold-out campaign fundraiser in Provincetown that raised more than $2 million for the Democratic ticket with a starry contingent of national politicians and celebrities attending, the Boston Globe reported.
Several VIP tickets sold for as high as $150,000, according to the Cape Cod Times, with total attendance at nearly 1,000 guests at a harborside tent set up by the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum.
James Taylor told The Eagle recently that his schedule in the months leading up to the Nov. 5 election was mostly clear so he could perform in support of the Democratic ticket whenever he was asked.
“The great thing is that you have the resources of so many people and so many experts — the Secret Service and all the campaign people doing scheduling all the time,” she said. “You get used to the details. You get comfortable with all the things that have to be considered.”
For Kit Dobelle and Mary K. O’Brien, who served as Middle Berkshire Register of Deeds and has long been active in Democratic politics, Harris’ visit resonates with their hopes for the U.S. to finally elect a woman president.
“This is a crowning achievement for our city,” O’Brien said.
“[Harris] carries the hopes of a younger generation and the satisfaction of an older generation — the one I’m part of,” O’Brien said. “To have it come to this point where she can be the nominee of our party ... I’m just really part of her. I really am.”
Along with Guernsey and Dobelles, the fundraiser’s organizers included former Gov. Deval Patrick and his wife, Diane, who own a home in Richmond; Joel and Patty Ellis; Jay Kistler and Chris Conklin; Linda Mason and Roger Brown, and Jeffrey Rothenberg and Sarah Feldman.
Michelle Obama attracted a sellout crowd of 780 donors to Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre on Aug. 3, 2012, in support of President Obama’s reelection campaign.
Hillary Clinton appeared in front of the Colonial in 1998 to support the theater’s restoration campaign.