MALVERN, Pennsylvania — Vice President Mike Pence raised $1 million for President Trump’s reelection campaign during an outdoor fundraiser hosted by a wealthy Republican donor in this key swing state.
Pence headlined the Trump campaign fundraiser Thursday, his first stop on a daylong bus tour through central Pennsylvania, a region critical to the president’s 2020 prospects. The event, adjacent to the home of Republican donor Ron Kreider on picturesque farmland in Lancaster County, was held outdoors under tents to accommodate the 150 attendees, as required by local regulations implemented to mitigate health risks posed by the coronavirus.
The $1 million raised by Pence was a significant haul for a sitting vice president. He and Trump are going to need the extra resources. Public polls show a tight race in Pennsylvania between the president and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who also traveled to the state Thursday. Meanwhile, the bus tour was Pence’s first since the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the economy in mid-March.
Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller told reporters that two people who were planning to attend a separate afternoon “roundtable” campaign event with the vice president at the Rajant Corporation in Malvern tested positive for COVID-19 hours before he arrived and were asked to leave. They were asymptomatic, but all attendees to the vice president’s events are tested, Miller said, and this happens on occasion.
At Rajant, a technology company that uses three-dimensional printers to manufacture face masks for use during the pandemic, Pence stumped for a second Trump term. He told assembled executives that the president was prioritizing defeating the pandemic while also focusing on the economic recovery.
“President Trump and I were determined, first, to focus on the health of the American people,” Pence said. “The good news is, even in the midst of outbreaks we’re seeing in Sun Belt states, we are opening up America again.”
“We think this economy is coming back,” Pence added.
