Trump in Lexington? Former president to attend 2024 fundraiser next week

Former president Donald Trump is scheduled to make an appearance in Lexington next week at a fundraiser for his 2024 presidential campaign.

The event will take place next Friday, Sep. 22, according to Fayette County GOP Chair Fran Anderson.

Tickets to the event start at $3,300.

After having lost a re-election bid in 2020, Trump is the current frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, though the contest does not begin in earnest until January.

A contact for the event, veteran GOP fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke who has a role in Trump’s Super PAC, has yet to respond to questions about the nature of the fundraiser and why it’s being held in Lexington.

WEKU first reported the news of Trump’s Lexington plans.

Beginning in March of this year, Trump has been indicted four times, twice for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, in different jurisdictions across the United States. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

However, those indictments have not dampened Trump’s prospects in the primary. He’s leading the current runner-up, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by more than 30 points in most national polls, according to poll aggregation site fivethirtyeight.com.

Coincidentally, DeSantis held a Lexington fundraiser on Tuesday. The event was hosted by third-place GOP gubernatorial primary contender Kelly Craft and her husband, according to an invitation obtained by the Herald-Leader, among others. Tickets started at $3,300 per person. DeSantis gave Craft a late-game endorsement in the primary this year, which was recorded in a robocall sent to voters.

Craft, who has left the political spotlight in Kentucky as her primary opponent Attorney General Daniel Cameron takes on Gov. Andy Beshear in November, told followers to “stay tuned” regarding her next move recently. Trump endorsed Cameron in the gubernatorial primary before Craft entered the race, and

Trump’s fundraiser in Lexington would not be his first event there. In 2019, the then-president attended and spoke at a rally for former GOP governor Matt Bevin at Rupp Arena the day before the election that year. Bevin lost in a narrow race to Beshear by about 5,000 votes. Trump also attended a fundraiser in Lexington in 2016 before his presidential win over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. That event was hosted by the Crafts, who are nationally known GOP megadonors.

In 2022, Trump hosted a $75,000 per person fundraiser at the Kentucky Derby.