The Hollywood Money Race & Slotkin’s Surge

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 12: 2023 J.J. Abrams, Katie McGrath arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)
Megadonor power couple J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath gave to Sherrod Brown. (Photo: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)
Abby Livingston
August 23, 2023

Hollywood donors are investing early this election cycle, maxing out checks to Democratic Senate incumbents and candidates, alike. Among the names that caught my eye in the latest F.E.C. disclosures: Megadonor power couple J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath gave to Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell, and Jon Tester, and split donations in the California Senate race between Barbara Lee and Katie Porter; Friends creator Marta Kauffman also split money between Lee and Porter; while Wanda Sykes is all in for Porter. Kauffman also donated to Tammy Baldwin, Cory Booker, Brown, Tester, and Elizabeth Warren, and she also gave a significant chunk of change to the D.S.C.C.