Trump running mate JD Vance courts GOP donors at Fresno County fundraising luncheon
Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential running mate of former President Donald Trump, wedged a fundraising stop in Fresno County into a campaign schedule between rallies in Nevada and Arizona.
The first-term senator was at Harris Ranch Resort in Coalinga for the $3,300-per-plate event; some donors were expected to pony up as much as $25,000 for a roundtable event and photo opportunity with Vance, according to Politico. Vance arrived in Fresno on Tuesday evening.
Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes, whose district encompasses much of the southwestern county including Coalinga, attended the event, which he estimated attracted about 150 people.
“He talked a little bit about water (for agriculture) … really just in generalities,” Mendes said. “He knows the federal government can only do so much because part of it’s a state issue. I think he understands that already.”
The Coalinga event was hosted by agribusiness leader and Harris Ranch owner John Harris, contractor Richard Spencer and William Boudreau, vice president of Harris Farms and a member of the Westlands Water District board of directors.
Boudreau, who introduced Vance at the luncheon, described the candidate as “pretty inspirational” and said it was encouraging that he came to Valley, where agriculture and water are of critical importance.
“He understands the complexity of the issue and he’s definitely a quick study,” Boudreau said. “He’s supportive of making sure we have the infrastructure for a reliable water supply and a vibrant domestic food supply capability.”
Boudreau said two Congress members from the Valley, Rep. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, and Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, were among those attending the luncheon.
Although Coalinga, tucked along the hills on the western fringe of the San Joaquin Valley along Interstate 5, seems well out of the way, the location was not a surprise to Fresno insurance businessman and longtime Republican activist Michael Der Manouel Jr.
“That organizer (Harris) and that venue are pretty reliable for fundraising, so I’m not at all shocked that there’s an event like this out there,” said Der Manouel, who did not attend the Vance event.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, in fact, headlined a July 2019 fundraiser at Harris Ranch in a Valley trip that also included a rally at a farm in Lemoore. Pence also visited Lemoore in January 2021, in the waning days of his term as vice president, to salute the military community and families at Lemoore Naval Air Station.
Wednesday’s fundraiser is part of Vance’s swing through the western U.S. that this week has included a Silicon Valley fundraiser on Monday and rallies in Nevada on Tuesday. He was expected to travel later Wednesday to Arizona for a campaign rally.
Vance “really talked about having to do a lot of fundraising to combat the news media’s false narrative” about Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee for president since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race earlier this month, Mendes added.
“What surprised me a little bit is, (Vance) said something I’ve been saying for the last 10 days: That we had a coup d’etat” when pressure from prominent Democratic donors and politicians prompted Biden to abandon his re-election effort, Mendes said. “Nobody seems upset that no one voted Biden out; he was basically told to leave,” he added.
Local political analyst Tal Eslick, who has previously worked with Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, said he believes Vance is likely to resonate more with Valley voters than previous GOP vice presidential candidates such as Pence, who served with Trump from 2017 through January 2021, or Rep. Paul Ryan, who as a congressman from Wisconsin ran on the 2012 Republican ticket with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the presidential nominee.
Eslick said his opinion is based on the connections between a 2005 Congressional Research Service report comparing the San Joaquin Valley with economically distressed parts of the Appalachian Mountains region of the eastern U.S., and Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” in which he recounted his own youth and experiences growing up in Ohio.
“I can definitely see that,” Mendes said after the event. “When you look at (Vance), you’re basically looking at some of us here in the Valley, where our ancestors came here with nothing. … It doesn’t matter if you’re Hispanic, or Portuguese, or Oklahomans or Arkansas people who came here in the Dust Bowl, people can relate to that.”
Mendes added that while Vance didn’t speak at length about his book, “he mentioned that he got this far in life because of his tough grandma.”
Earlier on Wednesday, social media posts reported that Vance and his entourage were spotted walking in downtown Fresno.
In the 2020 presidential election, Fresno County voters broke toward Biden and Harris over the Republican Trump-Pence ticket. Biden won 52.9% of the county’s vote, while 45.1% voted for Trump.
This story was originally published July 31, 2024 at 3:23 PM.
