Former President Donald Trump visited Newport Beach on Saturday in his first major campaign fundraiser in Southern California.
Trump visited Orange County after hosting a fundraising event the day before in Beverly Hills, at the home of businessman Lee Samson.
Early Saturday morning, supporters filled the streets near Pacific Coast Highway and Jamboree Road, hoping to catch a glimpse of Trump’s motorcade arriving shortly before 1 p.m.
Tickets for the Newport Beach event ranged from $3,300 to $100,000 per person.
About 400 people attended the fundraiser, held at the Harbor Island home of John Word, a health insurance company co-founder, with his wife, Kimberly Word, and the billionaire tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey.
One supporter, Blake Marnell, said he drove from San Diego to wait for Trump to arrive in Orange County.
Supporters lined the streets of Newport Beach to await the arrival of Donald Trump’s motorcade on June 8, 2024. (KTLA)
Supporters lined the streets of Newport Beach to await the arrival of Donald Trump’s motorcade on June 8, 2024. (KTLA)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, speaks at a campaign rally, Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
The home of John and Kimberly Word on Harbor Island in Newport Beach, where Donald Trump held a fundraising event for his campaign on June 8, 2024. (KTLA)
The home of John and Kimberly Word on Harbor Island in Newport Beach, where Donald Trump held a fundraising event for his campaign on June 8, 2024. (KTLA)
Supporters lined the streets of Newport Beach to await the arrival of Donald Trump’s motorcade on June 8, 2024. (KTLA)
Donald Trump’s plane arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on June 7, 2024. (KTLA)
Supporters wait outside as Donald Trump’s motorcade arrives at a Beverly Hills home for a campaign fundraising event on June 7, 2024. (KTLA)
Attendees enter a private Beverly Hills residence on North Elm Drive for Donald Trump’s campaign fundraising event on June 7, 2024. (KTLA)
Donald Trump supporters wait for his motorcade to arrive in a Beverly Hills neighborhood on June 7, 2024. (KTLA)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, speaks at a campaign rally, Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 30: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court for his secret trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York. Judge Juan Merchan has instructed the jury and deliberations enter their second day. The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court during jury deliberations in his secret criminal trial in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)
Donald Trump, far left, watches as the foreman of Jury No. 1 delivers guilty verdicts with Judge Juan Merchan listening on the bench in Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, May 20, 2024. (Dave Sanders/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court during jury deliberations in his hush money criminal trial in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Outside a private home on North Elm Drive in Beverly Hills, where Donald Trump is hosting a presidential campaign fundraising event on June 7, 2024. (KTLA)
Supporters wait outside as Donald Trump’s motorcade arrives at a Beverly Hills home for a campaign fundraising event on June 7, 2024. (KTLA)
“We are considered a blue state and at the state level these offices are solidly Democratic, but that belies the fact that there are enclaves of conservative politics throughout California,” Marnell said.
The Newport Beach event was Trump’s final stop in California after holding events in San Francisco on Thursday and Beverly Hills on Friday.
Following his conviction on 34 counts on May 30, the Republican presidential candidate reportedly raised $141 million in May.
The Beverly Hills event reportedly raised around $6 million. The San Francisco event raised about $12 million and was organized by David Sacks, a venture capitalist and former PayPal executive, with his wife, Jacqueline Sacks, and the venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.
According to the Orange County Register, Trump has been criticized for relying on campaign donations to pay for his costly legal fees. Some estimates indicate that by 2024 he will have spent more than $100 million in donations to pay his lawyers.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced July 11, days before he is officially announced as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The trip marks Trump’s first visit to Southern California since the GOP convention in Anaheim in September 2023.
President Joe Biden is expected to visit Southern California on June 15 for a major fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, which will include appearances by former President Barack Obama and celebrities such as George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
