After canceling a scheduled August appearance in Park City, former President Donald Trump’s campaign announced Utah supporters will have another chance to see the Republican nominee next week — this time, for a third of the price.
A flyer for the fundraiser said Trump will be at an “evening reception” at an undisclosed venue in Salt Lake City on Sept. 14th, and the minimum price to attend is $3,300. Tickets for the Park City event started at $10,000.
Attendees can pay $35,000 for a photo with the presidential candidate, and up to $500,000 to join the host committee.
The announcement comes just over a week after Trump and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox stirred up controversy for attending a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honoring Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, a Utah Marine killed in Afghanistan. Hoover’s family invited Cox and Trump, but the pair later used the event as campaign fodder. Political activities are illegal in national military cemeteries.
Trump’s campaign staff allegedly had a verbal and physical altercation with a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in a section of the cemetery where recent U.S. casualties are buried. Cox’s reelection campaign used photos of him and Trump at the ceremony to solicit donations in an email sent to supporters. The governor later apologized.
Federal law bars “political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” a statement from the cemetery said, adding, “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
In an abrupt about-face, Cox, who had long been a prominent Republican critic of Trump, offered up his endorsement in July following an attempted assassination against the former president.
A Utah fundraiser for Trump has been rescheduled several times. It will be his first public visit to the Beehive State since 2017, when he signed an executive order reducing the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments.
Nationwide, Trump is at a cash disadvantage to his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris. And Utah, despite the red state likely being a solid win for Trump, has kept with that trend.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Harris has secured $2.2 million from Utahns, while they’ve given Trump $1.7 million.
Harris made a fundraising stop in Park City in June — weeks before Biden announced he would end his reelection efforts. Gwen Walz, the wife of Harris’ pick for vice president Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, joined a Zoom call with Utah women to fundraise for the ticked last month.
