Along with the dignitaries attending President Biden’s star-studded fundraiser at Peacock Theater on Saturday night was the man Biden had urged to resign from the Los Angeles City Council: Kevin de León.

De León, who weathered a scandal that rocked City Hall, was seen in the theater lobby while other elected officials met with Biden and former President Obama.

Outside the theater, De León took the opportunity to speak to reporters about what he characterized as the danger of Donald Trump becoming president again.

He noted the pro-Palestinian protesters who had flanked the theater, saying, “What’s at stake here right now, in the battleground states … is the well-being of immigrants, undocumented immigrants, the poor, the most vulnerable, our senior citizens. That’s what’s at stake here, too — not just global matters.”

In a video posted online by a Pasadena Star-News journalist, De León added, “I’m looking forward to Presidents Biden and Barack Obama really instilling a sense of deep enthusiasm among Democrats. Listen, this is a blue town; this is a blue state. We’re not going anywhere. … I’m hoping that California can have that huge positive impact.”

De León is scraping together a political comeback after the Los Angeles Times revealed in 2022 that he had participated with other councilmembers in a secretly recorded conversation riddled with racist remarks. The audio leak led then-Council President Nury Martinez to step down. Many called for De León to resign too — including Biden.

“The president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned, but they all should,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said at the time.

Instead, De León clung to his seat — despite persistent protests in City Hall chambers, the loss of his committee assignments and his physical altercation with a critic that was captured on videotape. He mounted a reelection campaign, scoring second place in March’s primary election. Last month, Council President Paul Krekorian announced he was placing De León on four council committees.

And on Saturday night, the controversial councilmember was spotted at the downtown event, Los Angeles’ highest-dollar Democratic fundraiser on record. But other elected dignitaries from Southern California, including Mayor Karen Bass and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), mingled with Biden and Obama in the VIP section.

Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price was also spotted arriving at the theater, though he was blocked from entering near the JW Marriott hotel when protesters sat down in front of the gates. Some of the demonstrators shouted at him, referencing his pending criminal charges.

Price was charged last year with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest for voting on development projects in which he allegedly had a financial interest. He is also the subject of an L.A. City Ethics Commission review over similar accusations.

Staff writers Liam Dillon and Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

After former President Trump’s lucrative, three-day swing through California, President Biden has returned to the West Coast to tap into the Democrat-dominated state’s political ATM.

With less than five months to go until the November election, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel will interview Biden and former President Obama as they team up with Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Julia Roberts at a star-studded fundraiser the president’s campaign said is already breaking records.

Biden’s campaign boasted “the event has already raised over $28 million and counting — making it the biggest fundraiser in Democratic Party history.”

The haul tops a fundraiser with Biden, Obama and former President Clinton in March at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, which raked in $26 million.

TRUMP HAULS IN PLENTY OF GREEN DURING SWING THROUGH LONGTIME BLUE STATE

But Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, hauled in over $50 million in early April at a fundraiser at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor and hedge fund founder John Paulson. It was the most money ever brought in at a single fundraising event and shattered the record Biden set just a week and a half earlier at Radio City Music Hall.

It’s the latest case of national politicians coming to California to pad their campaign coffers. According to figures from the Federal Election Commission, Biden and Trump have raked in more money in California this cycle than any other state.

“When politicians look to the west, they see a field of green,” veteran California-based political scientist Jack Pitney at Claremont McKenna College told Fox News.

President Biden and former President Trump have both hauled in millions at fundraising events in California as they face off in their 2024 election rematch. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson and Evan Vucci)

Tickets for Saturday’s gala at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, which an invitation describes as a “historic night,” ranged from $250 for a single person to get in the door to half a million dollars for special access, photos with Biden and Obama and invitations to an after-party.

The president arrived in California one week after Trump left the Golden State.

Trump’s team said when all the money is counted, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was expected to haul in roughly $27.5 million from three fundraisers in California and one in Las Vegas, a senior campaign official told Fox News.

WHY TRUMP’S SAN FRANCISCO FUNDRAISER WAS FRUITFUL IN MORE THAN ONE WAY

And the Trump campaign said an additional $6 million was raised for outside groups supporting his 2024 election rematch with Biden.

Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden. In April, his campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) for the first time raised more than the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee. 

Trump’s campaign announced a week ago it and the RNC hauled in a stunning $141 million in May, fueled in part by the former president’s guilty verdicts in his recently concluded criminal trial.

Former President Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

The former president’s campaign noted that, in the first 24 hours following the verdict, it and the RNC brought in nearly $53 million, which counted toward May’s total. 

The Biden campaign has also been raising money from the Trump verdict, and a source told Fox News “the 24 hours after the verdict were one of the best fundraising 24 hours of the Biden campaign since launch.”

While Trump’s California fundraising haul was fueled by top-dollar GOP donors, including tech industry investors and hedge fund giants, Saturday’s fundraising for Biden is being orchestrated by the Democratic Hollywood machine.

It’s no surprise. The entertainment industry, which showered presidents Clinton and Obama with campaign cash, has long been known for its Democratic leanings.

And while the 81-year-old Biden doesn’t have the tight relationships with Hollywood that his Democratic predecessors enjoyed, he can still draw a crowd.

“Any Democratic presidential candidate is going to be able to raise a lot of money in California, and an incumbent president has a big advantage. When the president enters a room, it fills up with cash,” Pitney said.

President Biden waves as he arrives on Air Force One June 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. Biden will attend a campaign event Saturday night. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Major strikes by two Hollywood labor unions representing film and television writers and actors from May through November of last year delayed Biden from raising money in Los Angeles entertainment circles.

But the president started making up for lost time in December with a major fundraiser hosted by famed directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner. Saturday’s mega-fundraiser was orchestrated by media mogul and Democratic rainmaker Jeffrey Katzenberg, who’s a Biden campaign co-chair. Katzenberg also put together the Radio City Music Hall fundraiser.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have enlisted the help of plenty of stars and well-known performers from the entertainment world as the president runs for a second term.

Among those lending a hand is famed actor Robert De Niro, who headlined a Biden campaign news conference outside the New York City courthouse during the final days of Trump’s trial. 

The news conference went viral after De Niro, who portrayed mobsters in such cinematic masterpieces as “The Godfather Part II” and “Goodfellas,” screamed at nearby Trump supporters that “You are gangsters” as they yelled obscenities at the actor.

Actor Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, made a recent unannounced appearance at the White House briefing room to praise the president and called Biden “Joe-Bi-Wan-Kenobi.”

Spielberg has helped the DNC with its storytelling efforts, and Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris on a recent swing through battleground Michigan.

Trump, whose final California fundraiser took place last weekend at a tony gated community in upscale Newport Beach, California, and included veteran actor Jon Voight, will spend this weekend in Michigan, holding multiple events, including a roundtable discussion at a northwest Detroit church.

Supporters of former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, react to his motorcade on the day he visits to raise money in Newport Beach, Calif., June 8, 2024. (REUTERS/David Swanson)

The Trump campaign argued the former president will be meeting with “everyday Americans” while “Biden will be at a glitzy fundraiser in Hollywood with his elitist, out-of-touch celebrity benefactors that own him.”

The Trump campaign and Republican allies also criticized the president for skipping a peace conference on Ukraine being held this weekend in Switzerland to appear at the California fundraiser. Vice President Kamala Harris will represent the U.S. at the peace talks.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Most Californians say they’re likely to vote in the November election, but among those who aren’t sure, there’s a common reason: They don’t like the presidential candidates.

That finding comes from a poll released Friday by the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies, which asked 5,095 registered voters across California to reflect on their likelihood of voting in the Nov. 5 general election that will feature a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump.

The poll, conducted for the nonprofit Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, found that about 78% of California’s registered voters say they’re highly likely to vote. The poll also found that the intent to vote varies widely by age, race and political affiliation — as do the reasons why people say they aren’t likely to cast a ballot.

Californians who see themselves as highly likely to vote said participating in the presidential election is the leading reason. But among those who say they’re less likely to vote, 40% cited not liking the candidates for president as a reason. That rose to 55% among voters who have voted regularly in the past but aren’t sure whether they’ll vote this year.

Trump, a Republican, is now running as the first former president convicted of crimes after a jury last month found him guilty of falsifying records in a scheme to conceal payments to a porn actor who alleged they’d had an affair. Biden, a Democrat, is facing criticism from some in his own party over his support for Israel in its war against Hamas, as well as his moves to restrict asylum at the Mexico border. And both are facing questions about their age: Trump is 77 and Biden is 81.

“The presidential election seems to be cutting both ways,” said Mark DiCamillo, the director of the Berkeley IGS poll. “It’s a motivating factor for those who are already on board and likely to vote, but it seems to be inhibiting others.”

Democrats and liberals were more likely than Republicans and conservatives to say that their dislike of the presidential candidates is one reason they may not vote, the poll found.

More than 1 in 3 voters in the state said they weren’t likely to vote because “special interests and big money are controlling things,” and almost 3 in 10 voters said they weren’t well informed about the issues and the candidates.

“It’s clear that when it come to our politics, belief is low and cynicism is high,” Jonathan Mehta Stein, the executive director of California Common Cause, said in a statement.

California’s ballot on Nov. 5 will be a lengthy one, including the presidential election, a growing list of statewide ballot initiatives and several competitive legislative races that could determine which party controls Congress. Some races in purple areas are expected to be won on razor-thin margins.

Overall, the poll found that the groups that appear to be most inclined to vote are over the age of 65, white voters, Republicans, homeowners and those with post-graduate degrees.

The groups in which the fewest people said they were likely to vote include voters who are young, Black or Asian American, have no post-high school education, or are naturalized citizens.

“It’s pretty much what we’ve seen in past elections — that older voters, white voters, the better educated voters are the most likely to turn out,” DiCamillo said.

The likelihood of voter participation varied widely by race, the poll found. Among white respondents, 90% said they were highly likely to vote. The share was 66% among Black voters, 70% among Latino voters and 62% among Asian American voters.

The foundation provided special funding to focus on Asian Americans, California’s fastest-growing demographic group, DiCamillo said.

The poll used voter-roll information to find voters who requested voting materials in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, then asked the poll questions in those languages. (The poll always asks questions in both English and Spanish.)

The results give “a better read of those voting constituencies than we’ve ever had in the past,” DiCamillo said, and suggest that there are wide disparities in voting propensity among Asian Americans.

Nearly 2 in 3 Vietnamese Americans described themselves as highly likely to vote. That rate rose to 71% among other Asian American and Pacific Islander groups, including Filipino and Japanese Americans.

By comparison, slightly less than half of Korean Americans and 54% of Chinese Americans said they were likely to vote.

The poll also asked California’s registered voters what could make them more engaged in the general election.

White and Asian American voters were most likely to say that their chances of voting would rise if they felt that “ballot measures or candidates would advance my interests.”

Latinos were most likely to say that their chances of voting would increase if “election results were more trustworthy.” And Black voters most frequently said that they would be more likely to vote if they “had access to an unbiased and trusted source of news about the election.”

Christian Arana, a vice president of the Latino Community Foundation, said in a statement that investment in voter education is crucial to ensure that voters “understand the significance of their vote and the influence they hold.”

Voters under the age of 30 were four times more likely than voters over 65 to say that “getting more information about how and when to vote” could improve their changes of participation.

They were also far more likely to say that their voting behavior could change if voting were more convenient, or if they had assistance from “a person or group that I trust to help me better understand the issues and the candidates.”

DiCamillo cautioned that 78% of respondents rating themselves as highly likely to vote does not mean a prediction of 78% turnout. Most voters have good intentions about voting, he said, “but they probably overestimate it.”

During the 2020 presidential election, more than 80% of registered voters cast a ballot in California, the highest percentage since 1976.

The poll was conducted May 29 to June 4 in five languages. The margin of error for the overall sample of registered voters was estimated to be plus or minus 2 percentage points, and could be higher for subgroups.