Ivanka Trump made few public appearances for candidate Donald Trump as he campaigned in the last presidential cycle, but this is set to change.
In an interview with the New York Times published Monday, she touted her fundraising prowess, claiming she could outraise former Vice President Joe Biden. She pointed to one occasion where she raised $2 million in 45 minutes. “It was pretty record-shattering,” she said of the total.
Events in Oklahoma City, Naples, Florida, Austin, Texas, and New York City on the calendar for late March and early April signal a growing role for the president’s eldest daughter on his campaign with a slate of fundraising luncheons that will draw attendees paying from $2,800 for one person to $50,000 per couple. Photo opportunities are included for the highest contributors, or those who raise from $15,000 to $25,000 and up.
A highly valued surrogate for the Trump team, the shift marks a departure from her quieter West Wing role. She has staked out a newly combative stance on social media and on cable television, criticizing her father’s impeachment and lashing out at Democrats. On Friday, she spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, a pro-Trump Republican gathering that featured high-profile Trump campaign and administration officials. Last month, she attended a New Hampshire “Cops for Trump” event.
Ivanka Trump has been criticized in the past for her role as an unpaid White House adviser, with some charging that she was unqualified for a senior advisory role. In response, she has called this “noise,” vowing to fight for the president’s agenda. “I’m pretty thick-skinned,” she has said previously. “I choose to be happy and aim for impact.”
And she is also praised. Last month, a leading national manufacturing group credited her with boosting jobs “like no one in government has ever done.” As Trump’s “jobs czar,” she has played a key role in such Trump policies as sentencing commutation, prisoner reentry schemes, and jobs training.
A Republican since 2018, the former Democrat said she changed her status to vote for her father in New York’s closed state primary. “I am a proud Trump Republican,” she told the Times of the shift.
