Terry McAuliffe going to New York to raise campaign cash for Virginia gubernatorial campaign

• Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe is going to New York to raise campaign cash.
• The gathering is set for June 17, and it will be one of McAuliffe's first in-person fundraising events since he captured the party's nomination.
• Tickets start at $1,000 and go up to $5,000.

Terry McAuliffe is heading to New York for a fundraising event that will feature some of the Democratic Party's most affluent donors as he prepares for what will likely be an expensive general election fight to reclaim the Virginia governor's office.

McAuliffe, who won the Democratic nomination for governor on Tuesday, is coming to the Big Apple later this month. New York businessman and Democratic donor Dennis Mehiel will host McAuliffe at an event at his home, according to an invitation obtained by CNBC.

The gathering is set for June 17, and it will be one of McAuliffe's first in-person fundraising events since he captured the party's nomination. McAuliffe served as Virginia governor from 2014 to 2018, preceding fellow Democrat Ralph Northam. Politicians cannot serve consecutive gubernatorial terms in Virginia.

Tickets start at $1,000 and go up to $5,000. Other prominent figures on the host committee include Mike Kempner, a public relations executive who founded the media relations juggernaut MWW; Tonio Burgos, the CEO of lobbying shop TBA; Jill Iscol, a longtime advisor to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; and Sam Nappi, the chairman of Alliance Energy.

The fundraiser is expected to be a "small event with decent-sized individual contributions," Mehiel said. He referred a request for further comment to the McAuliffe campaign, which did not respond to an email seeking comment. Mehiel is close to President Joe Biden.

The New York fundraiser comes as the Virginia gubernatorial race kicks into an expensive phase. McAuliffe himself is a prolific fundraiser and has deep ties to the Clinton family.

Glenn Youngkin, McAuliffe's Republican opponent and a former Carlyle Group executive, has said he wants to raise $75 million for his run for the governor's office. Data from the Virginia Public Access Project shows Youngkin has already lent his campaign over $12 million. His campaign has raised just under $16 million through May.

Medium Buying says the Youngkin campaign has spent just over $1 million on ads since he won the Republican nomination.

McAuliffe, according to The Washington Post, has raised nearly $15 million overall.

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