Biden’s list of 800 exclusive top money raisers includes 35 Floridians

Joe Biden’s top campaign fundraisers, released late at night over the weekend, include some bold-face names from South Florida’s worlds of politics, lobbying and the law.

Perhaps the most recognizable Florida name on the list is John Morgan, the Orlando-area lawyer who is widely known for his TV ads promoting his personal injury law firm.

Four well-known elected officials are on the list: U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties; Val Demings, from Orange County, and Donna Shalala of Miami-Dade County, and state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.

Altogether, more than 800 names are on the list of Biden bundlers. The list includes 35 from Florida.

They’re called bundlers because they’re people with the kind of connections who can call other people who have the means to make sizable contributions. The term comes from an era in which they’d actually physically bundle checks. In releasing the list, the Biden campaign used a more genteel term, “volunteer fundraisers.”

Their success is a big part of how Biden has managed to raise more money this fall than the president.

In contrast to many other political campaigns, including those of former President Barack Obama, who Biden served as vice president, this year’s campaign has released less information, and later, about its bundlers.

The list includes the names, and home cities and states — but not occupations or employers — of people who have raised at least $100,000. Many people on the list have raised much, much more. But it’s impossible to tell who has raised how much.

The top tier of Biden fundraisers is labeled “Biden Victory Partner,” at $2.5 million each; “Delaware League,”: at $1 million; “Philly Founder,” $500,000; “Scranton Circle,” $250,000; and “Unifier,” $100,000. The names come from key parts of Biden’s bio: He’s originally from Scranton, Pa., and represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

After the The New York Times wrote about Biden’s bundlers, the campaign said it would release a list by the end of October.

President Donald Trump hasn’t disclosed anything about his bundlers.

Before he ran for political office, Deutch was an active fundraiser in Jewish philanthropic circles. Demings was one of the candidates considered by Biden as his possible running mate. Fried is the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida and is a possible candidate for governor in 2024.

Also on the list are former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and his wife Grace, and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, of Jupiter.

Most of the names — including South Florida lawyers Mitchell Berger, Yolanda Cash Jackson, and Andrew Weinstein — are familiar to insiders in the worlds of politics, law, lobbying and Democratic fundraising.

Berger and Weinstein are both prominent national Democratic Party fundraisers, raising money for members of Congress, presidential candidates and more.

Weinstein, of Coral Springs, is managing partner of the Weinstein Law Firm, has held a variety over the years, including finance chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, member of Obama’s national finance committee, and national co-chairman of Lawyers for Obama. He was a bundler for Obama.

Before the 2016 campaign, when most of the Democratic Party establishment was lining up behind Hillary Clinton, Weinstein said he thought Biden would be a great presidential candidate. After Biden opted out of the race, Weinstein worked for Clinton’s election.

Weinstein championed Biden, even when many pundits were writing off the former vice president’s campaign before he won a big victory in the South Carolina presidential primary and started winning multiple primaries on his way to the party’s nomination.

“He is the answer and the antidote to Donald Trump,” Weinstein said. "I’ve never met somebody in politics that has the character that Joe Biden has. Joe Biden is the right person to lead our country, because he leads with empathy and he leads with decency and he leads with compassion.

Weinstein declined to say how much he’s raised. He said it was a “unique challenge to raise money” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Berger founded the Fort Lauderdale-based Berger Singerman law firm and is currently co-chairman of the firm. Berger has a long political and government resume, including serving as a director, and eventually chairman, of the Student Loan Marketing Association under former President Bill Clinton. He also served as an appointee of then-Gov. Lawton Chiles to the South Florida Water Management District governing board.

Berger is a longtime close associate of former Vice President Al Gore and was among the attorneys who represented Gore in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election in which Gore lost Florida, and consequently the election, to George W. Bush. He is one of the featured interviews in the HBO documentary about the 2000 election, “537 Votes,” which premiered last month.

Cash Jackson is a shareholder in the Fort Lauderdale office of the Becker law firm, where she has large lobbying practice specializing in state government. Cash Jackson, who lives in Hialeah, is a past recipient of the community service award from the Broward Black Elected Officials Association and was co-founder of the National Black Lobbyist Association.

Neither Berger nor Cash Jackson could be reached for comment Monday.

Miami-Dade County has several people on the list including attorney Joe Falk, developer Michael Adler and lawyer-lobbyist Alex Heckler.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @browardpolitics

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