Trump heads to unlikely deep blue state to raise major campaign cash
Former President Trump heads to Democratic-dominated California on Thursday evening to kick off a three-day fundraising swing as he builds resources for his 2024 re-election rematch with President Biden.
The former president will headline a fundraising dinner hosted by tech investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, two of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley and co-hosts of the hot "All-In" podcast.
Tickets at the sold-out event range from $50,000 per person to get in the door all the way up to $500,000 per couple for special access as part of the host committee. Sources tell Fox News the event is sold out.
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"I think it is just very telling; I would never have predicted that you'd have a sold-out fundraiser targeting tech leaders in Pacific Heights and for a Republican candidate," Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican National Committee (RNC) member from California, told Fox News.
Dhillon, a longtime Bay Area-based attorney who's part of Trump's legal coalition, is attending the fundraiser.
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Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, a Trump ally and potential 2024 running mate who spent time a few years back in the San Francisco area working for hedge funds in the tech sector, was instrumental in putting the top-dollar fundraiser together.
Trump heads south to Beverly Hills for a Friday fundraiser and a Saturday finance event in Newport Beach in Orange County.
The trip doesn't mean the Trump campaign thinks overwhelmingly blue California may be in play.
Instead, Trump's swing, like two fundraisers in the Bay Area on Wednesday headlined by Vice President Harris, and President Biden's San Francisco area fundraisers last month, are the latest proof that the Golden State remains a crucial ATM for campaign cash.
Trump's campaign on Monday said it and the RNC, fueled in part by the former president's guilty verdicts in his criminal trial, hauled in a stunning $141 million in fundraising in May.
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 highlighted that in the first 24 hours following Thursday evening's verdict, it and the RNC brought in nearly $53 million in fundraising, which counted toward May's total.
The Biden campaign has also been fundraising off of the Trump verdict, and a source familiar told Fox News that "the 24 hours after the verdict were one of the best fundraising 24 hours of the Biden campaign since launch."
Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden. In April, his campaign and the RNC for the first time outraised the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
And on Wednesday, Make America Great Again Inc., a leading super PAC supporting Trump's campaign, said it raked in nearly $70 million in fundraising in May.
Fundraising, along with public opinion polling, is a key metric used to measure the strength of candidates and their campaigns. Money raised can be used to build up grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote operations, staffing, travel and ads, among other things.