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It’s the summertime and that means President Donald Trump, along with Democrats running to take him on in 2020, are preparing to travel to the wealthy New York region of the Hamptons where they will be hosted by a slew of influential donors.
The move by Trump and Democrats to court wealthy donors in this fashionable part of New York shows that the fundraising race is heating up as the presidential election cycle heads toward its second year.
Trump will be attending a reelection campaign fundraiser there on Aug. 9, and, Joe Farrell, a real estate tycoon, will be hosting the commander in chief, according to an invite obtained by CNBC.
Tickets for the the fundraising gala start at $2,800 and go up to $250,000. For that six-figure price, participants will get two photos with Trump and eight tickets to the reception at Farrell’s home. The donations will go to the Trump Victory committee, a joint fundraising operation between the campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Other’s listed as co-hosts include RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, the RNC’s co-chairman, Tommy Hicks Jr., the RNC’s Finance Chair, Todd Ricketts, and campaign manager Brad Parscale.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and his girlfriend, who is a senior advisor to the campaign, Kimberly Guilfoyle will also be in attendance. At the gathering, the invites shows that the president will be surrounded by two of his Republican loyalists in Congress in New York Rep. Lee Zeldin and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Political strategists noted that the Hamptons are the perfect place for Trump and 2020 Democrats to find donors with enough money to assist in bankrolling their campaigns.
“When you are looking for gold, you go to a gold mine. People who live in the Hamptons aren’t poor,” said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. “A lot of them are rich and they love to show their importance. The way to show your importance in public life is you give money,” he added.
Mary Anne Marsh, a veteran political advisor, noted it’s the ideal location for those looking to raise money at a rapid rate. “It is easy to raise a lot of money in little time with one big event or a series of smaller events all with the same results: lots of contributions for your campaign,” she said.
Farrell’s 17,000-square-foot estate, known as the “Sandcastle” in Bridgehampton, New York, has been rented out to a number of A-list of celebrities including Beyonce and Jay Z for $400,000, Russian oligarch Valery Kogan for $425,000 and Madonna for an undisclosed price.
For more than 20 years Farrell’s been involved with real estate deals with a few of the president’s close allies such as his attorney Rudy Giuliani and Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets and Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. Johnson contributed more than $360,000 to Trump Victory in the second quarter of 2019. Farrell contributed to Trump’s first run for president in 2016.
Trump and the Republican National Committee combined to raise more than $100 million in the second quarter.
Representatives for the RNC and Trump declined to comment on the Farrell event. The real estate executive did not return repeated requests for comment.
As for the Democrats, Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker are getting ready to head out to Long Island for a fundraising blitz. Biden’s event is being organized for late August and likely to be hosted by Bonnie Lautenberg, widow of former New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, according to those with direct knowledge of the matter.
Meanwhile, Harris is expected to find her way out to the Hamptons by September and one of her supporters, who declined to be named, explained that organizers are still working on hosts for the event.
Biden finished the second quarter raising $21.5 million while Harris brought in just over $12 million. Booker lagged behind the top tier with a $4.5 million haul.
Representatives for Biden, Booker and Harris did not return a request for comment.
