Comedian Stephen Colbert is hosting two expensive fundraisers on behalf of his sister Elizabeth Colbert Busch.
Tickets to the both events run as high as $10,000 and include both an exclusive private reception and a general reception, according to invites obtained by POLITICO.
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An event in Washington featuring the Comedy Central host is scheduled for April 15, while Colbert and former investment banker Sallie Krawcheck will host a New York City event April 23; that event will be at Krawcheck’s home.
For the D.C. event, a minimum donation of $2,600 is required to attend the private reception, while general admission tickets to the fundraiser cost $500.
DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Assistant Democratic leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) are all listed as co-hosts to the D.C. event.
Reps. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) are also listed as co-hosts.
In March, Colbert Busch locked up the Democratic nomination in the special election to replace Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. The Clemson University administrator is expected to face former Gov. Mark Sanford, though he must first survive Tuesday’s runoff against GOP rival Curis Bostic, a former councilman in Charleston County.
Colbert — who has largely made his public appearances in character as the right-wing blowhard pundit that he plays on “The Colbert Report”— said recently that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get his sister elected to Congress.
“She’s my sister, and I’m willing to, you know, break the jewel of my own creation to try to do something for her,” Colbert said on CNN last month. “I’m not worried what it would do to me or my show to try to help her as myself, not as my character, and to help her as myself.”
“It’s my sister, and I’m willing to help her,” Colbert said.
Colbert also hosted a series of fundraisers in February on behalf of his sister’s campaign in both New York City and Charleston, S.C.
Polls show a surprisingly tight race in a district that is nominally a safe GOP seat. As he returns to public life, Sanford has faced questions about the affair that ended his marriage.