McCarthy holds two Bay Area fundraisers
Hours after averting economic catastrophe with a vote to raise the country’s debt limit, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was in the deep blue Bay Area on Thursday for two high-dollar fundraisers.
The first was a lunch Thursday in Pacific Heights at the home of Trevor and Alexis Traina, where the minimum price to get in was $25,000 for two tickets and $100,000 got visitors a seat at the head table. The lunch event was first reported by 48 Hills. Former President Donald Trump appointed Trevor Traina as ambassador to Austria. Billionaire Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, a former Republican who has given to members of both parties over the years, attended the event, 48 Hills reported. Benioff gave $5,600 to McCarthy in 2019.
On Thursday evening, McCarthy attended an event in Redwood City, where the same prices applied, according to two sources familiar with the event who asked not to be identified so they could speak freely about it. About 10 people sat at a round table with the Bakersfield Republican.
The events benefited the McCarthy Victory Fund. Since McCarthy typically doesn’t have much need for spending in his own re-election contests, he typically redistributes most of the funds he raises to candidates facing tougher races around the country.
McCarthy usually makes one visit to San Francisco and another to somewhere on the Peninsula each year. In the 2022 campaign, California donors gave $210 million to Democratic candidates nationwide and $87 million
“He comes for the same reason, generally speaking, that Republican candidates come to California generally — and to San Francisco, specifically: to raise money.” Jim Russell, chair of the Lincoln Club of Northern California
to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets, a campaign disclosure site.
“He comes for the same reason, generally speaking, that Republican candidates come to California generally — and to San Francisco, specifically: to raise money,” Jim Russell, chair of the Lincoln Club of Northern California, said. “There is big money here.”
Republican presidential candidates Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have tentative plans for Bay Area fundraisers in mid-June, Russell said. Details for the events are still being worked out.
The presidential campaign visits are a sign that California Republicans will have a bigger-than-usual influence in choosing their party’s nominee since ballots will start landing in California mailboxes in the second week of February for the March 5 primary. That’s not long after voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will have weighed in. The last time there was an open GOP field, in 2016, Trump had wrapped up the nomination by the time Californians cast their votes in June.
Chronicle Washington correspondent Shira Stein contributed to this report.