Joe Biden is racing to win early support from Democratic donors for his re-election bid, hoping to beat the $1bn haul he landed in 2020 ahead of what some pundits predict will be the most expensive presidential race in US history.

Biden’s announcement this week that he intends to run for a second term in 2024 allowed his campaign team to start fundraising in earnest. Within hours of his declaration, they set about putting the finishing touches to a two-day event in Washington starting on Friday that will bring together Wall Street financiers and other deep-pocketed backers, said people familiar with the matter.

The list of attendees at the event, where Biden and his wife Jill are expected to appear, includes many of those who helped fund his last campaign, the people said, including Blackstone’s Jon Gray, Evercore’s Roger Altman and Centerview’s Blair Effron.