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President Joe Biden at an event in Southampton in 2019. DANA SHAW
President Joe Biden and the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, will attend a fundraiser for the president’s reelection campaign in East Hampton Village on Saturday, June 29.
An invitation from the Biden Victory Fund lists the afternoon reception’s host committee as Barry and Lizanne Rosenstein, Nicole and Michael Fox, Stacey and Eric Mindich, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and Tracy Pollan and Michael J. Fox.
The time of the reception is to be announced and the address given upon RSVP, but an emailed invitation indicates that the Rosensteins are hosting the event. Bloomberg Government reported this month that the fundraiser would take place “at the oceanfront estate” of the Rosensteins.
Barry Rosenstein, a hedge fund manager and founder of the multibillion-dollar Jana Partners, and before that, Sagaponack Partners, purchased 60, 62, and 64 Further Lane in 2014. At $147 million, the contiguous waterfront parcels were the most expensive residential property in the United States.
Tickets for the event range from $3,300 for a “supporter,” to $250,000 for a “chair,” which includes a photo line for two people and preferred seating. Supporter tickets were sold out as of Tuesday. Other tiers included “friend” for $6,600; “advocate” at $10,000; “champion” at $30,000, which includes a photo for one person and preferred seating; and “co-host” and “host” at $50,000 and $100,000, respectively, both including a photo for two and preferred seating.
The fundraiser comes amid a tight reelection campaign for the presidency, with Biden, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, neck and neck in multiple polls. They are to debate in Atlanta tonight, June 27, amid a campaign that many supporters of both candidates frame as potentially an existential struggle for the nation’s future.
Officials were tight-lipped early this week about the presidential visit. The East Hampton Village Police Department referred an inquiry to the White House public information officer handling the visit. While confirming that a presidential visit was scheduled, as of Tuesday afternoon she would offer no details, including the airport at which the president and first lady would arrive, saying that planning was still being finalized.
Lieutenant Jack Bartelme of the Village Police Department said in an email on Tuesday that the U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting political leaders and their families, has directed all inquiries to the White House press office. An email to the press office was answered by Sam Michel, the White House acting deputy press secretary, who referred inquiries to the Biden campaign, as the president’s travel is a political event.
Detective Sergeant Ryan Hogan of the East Hampton Town Police Department said on Monday that he had “no information at this time” regarding the president’s visit.
A call to Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton — where Air Force One has landed for past presidential visits — was referred to the Suffolk County executive’s office, where a voicemail on Tuesday was not returned. Jim Brundige, director of the East Hampton Town Airport, did not return a call seeking information.
Anna Skrenta, chairwoman of the East Hampton Democratic Committee, did not return a call seeking comment, and Perry Gershon of the committee, a former Democratic candidate for Congress, did not reply to a text message. A Jana Partners official did not return a call seeking comment.
During presidential visits, the Federal Aviation Administration typically implements a no-fly zone over much of the Westhampton, Southampton and East Hampton air space.
Saturday’s visit will hardly be the first for a president of the United States. The most recent was by Trump, who made a brief fundraising stop in Southampton in August 2020, during his unsuccessful reelection campaign. In that visit, Trump landed at the Southampton High School athletic fields by helicopter and proceeded via motorcade and police motorcycle escort to the First Neck Lane, Southampton Village, residence of the hedge fund manager John Paulson, and from there to the Kellis Way, Bridgehampton, residence of his son, Donald Trump Jr. The younger Trump has since sold that property.
As vice president, Biden and his wife had stayed at the First Neck Lane estate of the entrepreneur, philanthropist and Democratic Party donor David Bohnett of Southampton Village. That property was sold, for $27.5 million, in April.
As a candidate for president in 2016, Trump held a fundraiser at the residence of Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson IV on Highway Behind the Pond, East Hampton Village. Johnson went on to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom during Trump’s presidency.
After leaving the White House, former President Bill Clinton was a regular summer visitor to the East End, staying in Amagansett, Sagaponack and East Hampton Village. And former President Richard Nixon was fond of Montauk, and particularly of the oceanfront Gurney’s Inn, on Old Montauk Highway.
