Katzenberg’s Batman

Rufus Gifford
Now focused on electing Kamala Harris, Gifford said that his job over the next three months is to create an environment where “fundraising can thrive.” Photo: Ole Jensen/Corbis/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
August 7, 2024

On Monday morning, Rufus Gifford hopped on the phone with me to discuss the remarkable past two weeks in the life of Kamala Harris. Gifford, who is Harris’s finance chair, was fresh off an astounding fundraising blitz, in which he and his colleagues raised some $310 million for her presidential campaign. When we spoke, Gifford said that he had been enjoying a momentous birthday weekend in Nantucket, where he has a house with his husband in the Shawkemo neighborhood, and where he spent a lot of time growing up. With a “number of really wonderful moments” coming up for the Harris campaign—on Tuesday, Harris would announce Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, and then there’s the Democratic National Convention in 10 days—Gifford said he was enjoying a brief respite before the sprint to the finish line.