First Joe Biden’s campaign called in two former presidents for a star-studded fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall that raised $26 million. Then Donald Trump’s campaign countered that it expects to raise $43 million at a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, this weekend.

Gone are the $5,000 Zoom fundraisers of four years ago. Big, in-person fundraisers are back. And with small-dollar fundraising no longer booming, the high-roller events may be more important than ever.

“The in-person fundraising circuit is back, and that’s not limited to the presidential [race]. It’s across the board,” said Ami Copeland, a former deputy finance director for Barack Obama, who was heading into a fundraiser for a congressional candidate during the interview with POLITICO.

Bringing back fancy fundraisers guarantees that “you can get the super big checks out of them” because “high-dollar folks want to make sure they’re in the room,” Copeland said.

It’s not that Trump or Biden had previously closed those kinds of donors out, but the Covid pandemic put an end to the traditionally glitzy fundraisers for much of the 2020 presidential cycle. And in 2024, both candidates have been courting big donors for months. But they are now becoming a far more potent and visible factor in the campaign.

Some of the reasons are basic and structural. High-profile events can help generate excitement, positive attention, and desirable headlines. Every election is more expensive than the last, and the ability to raise huge amounts off individual events helps ensure key injections of cash into the race. As the pandemic receded, and the prolonged writers and acting strikes in Hollywood — which cut off a major fundraising circuit for Biden for much of 2023 — ended, campaigns have had to pivot back to a tried-and-true strategy.

Swanky fundraisers are “sexy again,” said one Democratic donor adviser granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, noting that “fancy people, the people who want to be seen at these things, the celebrities and the influencers, they’re all coming back into the mix.”

Money is key for both candidates. Trump’s fundraising has lagged Biden’s, and he’s spent tens of millions of dollars on legal costs. A continued funding gap could mean diminished ability to campaign as forcefully as Biden.

For Biden, burying Trump in cash is central to his general election strategy. He’s started with a sizable financial advantage over the former president, and hosting splashy, high-dollar fundraisers helps to further pad that edge. “His cash advantage is existential,” Copeland said, because “it’s the thing working the best on the campaign right now.”

This year, both parties decided on their nominees at the earliest point in the election cycle ever, which means they can set up joint fundraising committees with national party committees, allowing them to accept much bigger checks. (Biden has had several such committees since his campaign launch last April; Trump only set his up recently after his last major primary rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, dropped out.)

That alone makes big donors far more valuable — and allows high-dollar fundraising events to ramp up earlier than normal.

Donors can only give $6,600 to presidential campaign committees alone. But deep-pocketed donors can give up to $929,600 to Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that includes the president’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and all 50 state Democratic parties. Trump’s campaign indicated tickets for his Saturday fundraiser at billionaire John Paulson’s home were priced as high as $814,000, reflecting the large number of groups the fundraiser will support.

“When I’m talking to my friends — and I have to be careful, because it sounds a little obnoxious — we’ve been waiting for this. We couldn’t wait to write the larger check,” said one donor involved in Trump’s fundraising efforts and granted anonymity to speak freely.

The donor said the campaign and its allies will be going to great lengths to secure more top-level donors now that the massive checks are no longer reserved only for outside groups.

“You couldn't write that check six months ago to help him because the RNC doesn't play favorites,” the donor said. ”You had to wait until there's a presumptive nominee to be able to do this.”

Trump for months had put pressure on the RNC and former chair Ronna McDaniel to cease holding debates, arguing it was dragging out the primary process and delaying his inevitable securing of the GOP nomination — and thus, ability to rake in big checks.

Now that the campaign is in general election fundraising mode, Trump allies are in the process of organizing a series of smaller dinners to take place after this weekend, the donor said, with the hopes of locking in more max-out supporters while wining and dining them with surrogates that include Trump’s family members.

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) said her focus as a top Trump donor right now — she is among the top-level “Ultra MAGA” backers co-chairing Trump’s Saturday night fundraiser — is “staying out in front, making sure people know how important it is to contribute to support the president and make sure that we're doing everything we can to bring in fellow donors.”

And it’s important for the Trump campaign to “get down to the brass tacks of having events and fundraisers” like Saturday’s, Loeffler told POLITICO in an interview last month.

Donors who are able to cut big checks — and may prefer to do so in a glamorous setting with plenty of photo ops — could also be more important this cycle as small-dollar fundraising remains sluggish. In the 2020 cycle, 43 percent of the money Trump raised across his campaign and two joint fundraising committees came from donors giving less than $200, an astounding amount, as each group raised hundreds of millions.

But so far this cycle, donors giving less than $200 have accounted for slightly less, 39 percent, of the joint fundraising committee that is Trump’s primary fundraising vehicle for his presidential campaign.

That doesn’t just make big fundraisers important because of their ability to bring in large checks — they can help shake loose smaller donations, too.

Biden’s campaign saw online donations on ActBlue, the major Democratic fundraising platform, spike by about 60 percent over its monthly average on Feb. 6 and 7 after sending a fundraising blast that noted donors would be entered into a drawing to attend the glitzy New York event.

The Biden campaign said the “Evening with Presidents” event drew 165,000 individual contributors, including $9.5 million raised via small-dollar contributions. In touting its grassroots fundraising totals, the campaign noted that a majority of its fundraising in the first three months of 2024 came from small-dollar donors.

Some Republican donors have grown to expect a memorable experience when handing over a check.

Trump’s own Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, has been a key venue in Republican fundraising efforts in recent years, a trend that has only continued this election cycle.

Republican candidates for Senate, governor and even House during the 2022 midterms flocked to his Palm Beach club to hold fundraisers — some of whom chose the location in an effort to get face time with the former president, political advisers working on those campaigns told POLITICO at the time. But beyond the prospect of the candidate securing an endorsement from Trump, Mar-a-Lago events seem to successfully lure wealthy donors who are also hoping to get in front of Trump.

That was true as recently as Wednesday night, when Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake raked in $1 million on Mar-a-Lago’s poolside terrace, where Trump and conservative comedian Roseanne Barr were among the night’s entertainers.

An invitation for Lake’s lucrative fundraiser showed ticket levels ranging from $1,000 to $100,000, the latter a “Sea Level Experience” package that included a two-night stay at Mar-a-Lago, lunch during a “private yacht experience with Kari Lake and special guest,” golf for two at the nearby Trump International Golf Course and a private cocktail reception.

The big money is just as important to Biden.

In recent months, the Biden campaign has held a number of events that used celebrities as a draw. The biggest was last month’s $26 million smash at Radio City Music Hall, where Biden shared the stage with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, all interviewed by Late Show host Stephen Colbert. Lizzo performed her hit “About Damn Time” and actress Mindy Kaling emceed it. Photographer Annie Leibowitz snapped photographs of the presidents with attendees, if they ponied up $100,000 to reelection efforts.

And like Trump, Biden is keeping his foot on the gas. This week, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda co-hosted a fundraiser, where attendees got a sneak peek at Suffs, a musical based on the women’s suffrage movement that opens later this month.

“I think the bang-for-your-buck is good, but so is the earned media part of it,” said the Democratic donor adviser granted anonymity to discuss event details. “The buzz and excitement it creates in the circles that matter are just as valuable [as the cash raised].”