Hollywood moguls drum up donations for Grimes

Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes is again getting big-name Hollywood help in her bid to defeat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

{mosads}DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein are hosting a fundraiser for Grimes on June 23 in New York City, according to an invitation obtained by the Sunlight Foundation, with expected donations ranging from $2,600 for an individual and $5,200 for a couple.

The event will be held at the Waverly Inn, a West Village restaurant once described by the New York Times as “an insiders’ clubhouse.”

Grimes has been raising money at a record pace for Kentucky, keeping about even with the prolific fundraising of McConnell and twice outraising him in a fundraising quarter.

Hollywood donors like Katzenberg and Weinstein have been key to that fundraising success. Both have maxed out their giving to Grimes, and Katzenberg has hosted a handful of fundraisers for her, raising $1 million for her during a fundraising swing through the Los Angeles area at one point.

Katzenberg has made McConnell’s defeat a top priority this cycle, declaring in an email to other Hollywood donors last year that the Kentucky Senate race is “a pivotal election that can get the Senate working again.”

But while the Hollywood help has driven her to multiple million-dollar hauls, it’s also given McConnell’s team an opportunity to attack her as being beholden to “Hollywood liberals” and out of touch with average Kentuckians.

Their battle is one of the marquee races this cycle, with Democrats touting it as a top pickup opportunity due to McConnell’s unpopularity in Kentucky.