Last week, while on a campaign tour in Wisconsin, President Joe Biden met privately with Wes Edens, the billionaire owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, and the team’s head coach, Doc Rivers. This meeting was not widely reported, but three persons in the know spilled some insider information, despite the fact that they were not permitted to discuss it publicly.
This meeting took place in a downtown hotel after Biden attended an official event at a Milwaukee Boys and Girls Club, where he discussed his Reconnecting Communities initiative, which aims to direct infrastructure funds to underserved communities.
Now, this encounter is part of a pattern for Biden. When he’s on the go, he takes the time to talk one-on-one with other people. In this case, it featured high-profile donors who could support his campaign against his possible Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
Edens, who is 61 and worth over $4.1 billion according to Forbes, has a history of supporting Democratic candidates. Interestingly, his daughter, Mallory, appears to be dating Aaron Rodgers, the New York Jets quarterback famed for his association with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – a relationship that could complicate Biden’s reelection effort.
On the other hand, Rivers, who’s 62, isn’t a billionaire, but he’s no stranger to politics either. He publicly endorsed Biden during the 2020 campaign, appearing in a video alongside Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, for The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump organization.
When asked, the Bucks’ media team didn’t have anything to say about the meeting.
Biden has done similar things in the past to encourage fundraising. When he was in San Francisco last month, he had a private conversation with Dustin Moskovitz, who co-founded Facebook and was a major donor to Biden and the Democrats in the 2020 elections.
Edens, unlike some other major funders, was not particularly active in the 2020 campaign. However, he did contribute to Republican senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler’s runoff elections in Georgia, which they both lost. The change in power of the Senate allowed Biden additional room to advance his legislative agenda.
Then, in December 2023, Edens donated $6,600 to a Biden fundraising group, according to FEC filings.
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