R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe is set to help host a massive fundraiser in Manhattan for Michigan Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, reports say.
The big event will be held on the Bowery on October 5, an advanced flyer for the fundraiser notes, according to the New York Post.
Stipe will be joined by New York jeweler Alexis Bittar, Democrat House candidate Brad Lander, ex-Congressman Jamaal Bowman, and Brooklyn Councilman Chi Osse.
Socialist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s close campaign aides, political strategists Andrew Bard Esptein and Zara Rahim, are also members of the hosting group.
Bard Esptein reportedly told the media that he has joined the El-Sayed event because the Michigan Democrat is a “candidate I believe in.”
Tickets cost from between $250 for the lowest level to $57,800 for the top tier of donors.
The flyer works to take the edge off El-Sayed Muslim and radical left-wing background by calling him a “Michigan native running to make government work for ALL of us.”
R.E.M.’s Stipe has stumped for far-left candidates in the past. Back in 2016, for instance, he campaigned for socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in his last losing campaign for the Democrat nomination for president.
He also supported Kamala Harris in 2024 and was one of many in the entertainment industry to urge Joe Biden to step down from running against Donald Trump that year.
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