Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who voted for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP primary and is now supporting President Joe Biden, will appear at his second fundraiser in Dallas, Texas, tonight, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Biden’s appearance Wednesday night with Cuban, the former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is part of the president’s larger effort to court donors and supporters of Nikki Haley following her exit from the race.
Cuban is one of the main sharks of the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. He will exit the show in 2025.
The same source told ABC News the Biden campaign has also been hosting Zoom calls with former donors of Haley since she suspended her campaign on March 6.
In an interview with Bloomberg earlier this month, Cuban said he would vote for Biden over Trump.
President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Atlanta, on March 9, 2024. | Mark Cuban speaks at an event in New York, on Oct. 17, 2023.
Megan Varner/Getty Images | Disney via Getty Images
Biden’s campaign has said they are confident they’ll be able to persuade Haley supporters who oppose a second Trump term to cross party lines and back the president in the fall.
“Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign,” Biden said in a statement minutes after Haley suspended her presidential campaign.
The Biden-Harris campaign has pointed to Haley still receiving a sizable share of votes in primary elections even after she dropped out of the race to argue Trump will have trouble uniting Republicans in November.
“Nikki Haley is describing to the world exactly where and with whom Donald Trump is weak, and our campaign is paying attention to that and will be engaging voters very intentionally, to draw that contrast and invite them in,” a campaign aide said on a press call Monday.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is interviewed by ABC News’ Linsey Davis, on Dec. 9, 2023.
ABC News
Aides point to exit polling as well to show there are Republican primary voters who say they would support Biden in the general. In Ohio, for instance, as reported by ABC News exit polling Tuesday found eight in 10 Haley supporters said they wouldn’t vote for Trump in the general, with nearly half saying they’d back Biden — a figure the Biden campaign blasted to reporters.
At least half a dozen former Haley bundlers have opted to help Biden’s campaign rather than Trump’s, according to reporting from CNBC that was distributed to reporters on Tuesday by Biden’s team. Veteran media executive and former Haley donor Harry Sloan was one of those donors recruited to help reelect Biden and raise money for his campaign.
Cuban visited the White House earlier this month for a roundtable on lowering prescription drug costs –something Cuban is passionate about — he started Cost Plus Drug Company, which provides medication at low costs to consumers. Biden has touted his own efforts to tackle the high costs of prescription drugs –namely capping the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors.
ABC News has reached out to Cuban for comment on this story.