Michelle Kwan, the two-time Olympic medalist figure skater who now works for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, will hit the fundraising trail on Saturday with an event tailored to her first love: figure skating.
Donors will pay between $500 and $2,700 to watch the ISU World Figure Skating Championships free skate competition with Kwan in Boston on Saturday night.
Kwan, who won medals in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics and was a five-time world champion figure skater, will greet the donors at the event and even offer commentary if needed.
The event, Kwan’s first Clinton fundraiser focused on skating, is sold out.
“It is definitely like worlds colliding and I have to say it is my two loves,” Kwan said on Friday, noting that while she has been working hard at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters, she has been trying to watch the “very strong” American squad’s performance in Boston.
Clinton’s campaign has turned to aides more recently to fill the campaign’s fundraising coffers. John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman and someone known for his cooking, has headlined a number of fundraisers with celebrity chefs, while Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s senior policy adviser, has raised money by briefing donors on foreign policy and other matters.
After her Olympic career, Kwan turned to public diplomacy and politics. The George W. Bush administration named her a public diplomacy ambassador in 2006, a role she continued under President Barack Obama.
Kwan joined the Clinton campaign in 2015 and now works on the campaign’s surrogate team, a group that works with the campaign’s celebrity endorsers.
Because of that work, Kwan says she has not been able to skate as much as she would like.
“There is not much time to go to an ice rink and practice,” Kwan said. “The last time I skated was actually with my colleagues [at the campaign].”
Did the former secretary of state go?
No, said Kwan, but “I saw a picture of her on skates. And it was taken a number of years ago. And I think I am going to frame it and put it on my desk.”