Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Bradenton area to headline Republican fundraiser
Vice President Mike Pence arrived in the Bradenton area late Friday afternoon en route to a Republican fundraiser at Congressman Vern Buchanan’s house.
Pence is listed as a special guest at the private event on Longboat Key, where prominent Republicans will spend thousands of dollars to attend a National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser, which supports the organization’s mission of winning back the U.S. House of Representatives in November.
An event invite notes that the reception costs $2,500, a photo opportunity with Pence at the reception costs $5,000 and guests who want to stick around for dinner, too, must pay $25,000. Even though the event is at his house, money raised at the event will not go toward Buchanan’s campaign for re-election. Pence won’t see any earnings, either.
“Vice President Mike Pence is a special guest for this event,” the invite says. “This event benefits the NRCC and in no way benefits the vice president.”
Shortly after Air Force Two landed at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, Pence exited the plane and waved to a crowd of onlookers that stood waiting outside.
Secret Service agents surrounded the vice president as he walked toward a group of about 50 students from the Sarasota Military Academy and other guests.
Pence shook hands, spoke and posed for pictures with several of them before turning to jog back toward the aircraft, where he posed for more group photos with SMA students before his motorcade drove away around 5:25 p.m.
Pence did not stop to answer questions from the media.
The trip comes just two days after President Donald Trump said Pence would be “in charge” of a national task force dedicated to managing the threat of a potential novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
State Rep. Margaret Good, D-Sarasota, who is challenging Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, for his seat representing Florida’s 16th Congressional District, called the visit reckless in a statement released Friday morning.
“Pence is turning his back on the health and safety of the American people just like Vern Buchanan did when he voted again and again to dismantle the Affordable Care Act,” she said.
“In their attempt to save Vern, they’re risking the health and safety of the American people,” Good continued. “They need to reorder their priorities, cancel this fundraiser and focus on containing this virus.”
While Trump said Pence would be the head of the group, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is the chairman of the group.
An NRCC spokeswoman, Camille Gallo, said Good’s campaign was using the visit as an excuse to criticize the Trump Administration.
“Margaret Good is flailing trying to distract from her party’s front-runner being a self-avowed socialist who is a Fidel Castro sympathizer, and it’s really quite pathetic,” she said in an email to the Bradenton Herald.
Buchanan and Pence served in Congress together between 2007 and 2013. Between 100 and 150 people were expected to attend Friday’s fundraiser.
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 7:27 PM.
