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An influential Democratic fundraising committee is turning to two of the party’s most experienced and prolific moneymakers — Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi — during the final stretch of the campaign as Democrats look to seize control of Congress.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps Democrats get elected to the House, is hosting a pair of New York fundraisers in October featuring Pelosi, the House minority leader, and Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, according to a person who was invited to the events.
The events are expected to take place on Oct. 15 in Manhattan. Clinton will be featured at a lunch with some of the nation’s top Democratic donors. Later that day, Pelosi, along with Rep. Ben Lujan, D-N.M., are scheduled to be guests at a dinner, according to the person, who declined to be named.
The DCCC aims to raise $1 million at each event, just three weeks before the midterm election, the person said. Invitees are expected to contribute a $50,000 bundled donation, the person added.
The DCCC has raised just over $206 million throughout the 2018 election cycle, while spending $143 million in support of candidates, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Committee officials have been telling donors about the upcoming Manhattan events with Pelosi and Clinton. A hard copy of the invitation is expected to be given to donors in the coming days.
A spokesman for Pelosi referred CNBC to the DCCC. A spokeswoman for the committee did not return repeated requests for comment. Representatives for Clinton and Lujan also did not return requests for comment.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which raises money and advocates for GOP House candidates, argued that featuring Clinton and Pelosi at fundraisers will only weaken Democrats’ standing with voters in key battleground districts.
“Voters in battleground districts will be disappointed to hear Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are bankrolling Democratic candidates because he or she will be a reliable vote for progressive policies,” the spokesman said.
The inclusion of Clinton and Pelosi in a pair of fundraisers during the campaign’s final stretch is the latest example of how important the two establishment leaders are to the party’s fortunes, despite criticism within Democratic ranks.
Through July, Pelosi had raised over $90 million for the DCCC, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Her prowess on the fundraising circuit is the reason many, including the party’s top donors, expect her to become House speaker if the Democrats take back the chamber — despite several Democratic candidates saying they wouldn’t vote for her.
“Nobody within Democratic leadership has stepped up to help work the money circuit, and they don’t need to because they have Pelosi,” said one party operative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “The only person who could have challenged her for speaker was Congressman Joe Crowley, but with his loss and her extensive work on the campaign trail, all talk of her not becoming the next leader has gone away.”
Crowley, a 10-term incumbent from New York, was upset by ultra-liberal Democratic newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in June.
While Clinton has remained relatively quiet throughout the midterms, she will be headlining her first campaign event on Monday in Chicago with J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Illinois.
Pritzker is a longtime Democratic donor who backed Clinton for president in 2016.
Clinton is also going to be featured in three Democratic National Committee fundraisers in the lead up to Election Day, according to NBC News. The events will be held in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, and they’re being billed as “intimate dinners with discussion.”