Former President Barack Obama is expected to visit the Southland Sunday to attend a star-studded fundraiser benefiting the reelection campaign of Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
The location in Beverly Hills has not been made public, but a copy of the invitation obtained by various media outlets indicates it will be hosted by luminaries including studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, director Steven Spielberg, director J.J. Abrams and actress Katie McGrath, among others.
McCaskill is seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate, but she is facing a challenge from Republican state Attorney General Josh Hawley.
Hawley recently took to Twitter to criticize McCaskill for the Beverly Hills event.
“Sen. McCaskill likes to say she is `fighting’ the establishment, but she is spending this weekend with President Obama asking for donations from the Hollywood elite,” Hawley wrote.
The Missouri Republican Party also lashed out at the fundraiser, saying McCaskill “is flying over 1,700 miles away for her Hollywood fundraiser this weekend, but here in Missouri, a majority of the people she supposedly represents don’t want her back in office. Maybe she should just stay in Beverly Hills.”
McCaskill has called Hawley a “fake populist … with an Ivy League education,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Asked about the Beverly Hills event, McCaskill told the Post-Dispatch in March that Hawley is also holding out-of-state fundraisers. She denied that holding such an event means she is out of sync with Missouri voters.
“No, it’s basically based on (Obama’s) schedule,” she told the Post-Dispatch. “I think Mr. Hawley’s going to be — he’s already raising money all over the country. It’s what happens when you run for the United States Senate. He understands that.”
Specifics about Obama’s visit to the area haven’t been released. His wife, Michelle Obama, is expected to make an appearance at this weekend’s United State of Women Summit at the Shrine Auditorium. As is typical with presidential visits, Obama’s trips to the area while president often created traffic nightmares in the Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles areas.