WOODSIDE — Ahead of former President Donald Trump’s arrival in this bucolic Bay Area town for a fundraiser hosted by a tech billionaire, people gathered late Friday morning in a Western-styled saloon to prepare for a rally.
Trump was set to arrive in the Bay Area for a fundraiser is hosted by tech billionaire Tom Siebel, who is related to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, according to GOP sources. Tickets were reportedly sold for $500,000. The San Francisco Republican Party promoted the event online but provided few details. The event was set to begin at 11:30 a.m., but appeared to be running late as of noon Friday.
The trip comes as part of a swing through California by Trump and his campaign. The former president held a news conference earlier Friday in Rancho Palos Verdes in Southern California.
This marks Trump’s second fundraising visit to the Bay Area in recent months, following a visit to the home of San Francisco billionaire David Sacks in June that raised $12 million and drew a large crowd of supporters and protestors nearby.
Outside the Pioneer Hotel in Woodside on Friday, one passerby yelled, “Go to jail, Trump! Trump can go to jail!” from their car.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, also visited a fundraiser in July, hosted by crypto billionaire Mike Belshe at the Four Seasons in East Palo Alto.
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The Bay Area has proved to be a popular area for fundraising for both political parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz hosting a fundraiser in San Francisco last month. Before stepping in as the Democratic candidate, Harris had visited an Oakland fundraiser in June. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden both visited separate fundraisers in May and June to grow the Democratic campaign’s war chest.
The Democratic push in California has proved profitable, with the Harris-Walz campaign raising $136 million in Harris’s home state.
Trump’s campaign has also seen success, raising $41 million in the state, marking California as the fourth-largest contributor to the Republican fund this election cycle, according to Open Secrets. Los Altos alone has donated more than $3 million to the Trump campaign.