The donor event, beginning just after 4 p.m., was staged at an undisclosed hangar near North Temple and 2400 West.
Prominent Utah Republicans, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox; state Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton; Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper; and state GOP Chair Robert Axson greeted their party’s standard-bearer.
Adams, through a spokesperson, said Trump spoke about the U.S. military, highlighting its strength, dedication and effectiveness.
Before the main donor event, a handful of top Utah political leaders sat down with the candidate for a roundtable, Schultz said Sunday. After that intimate gathering, the lawmaker said, Cox introduced Trump to a crowd of more than 500 donors and remarked that the state “worked better” with the former president’s administration.
Hours before, the minimum ticket price was lowered to $1,000; down from a previous $3,300.
“They added a lower threshold,” Axson said Sunday, “to broaden the opportunity for folks who otherwise wouldn’t be able to do the higher-dollar amount.” The event raised about $5 million for the campaign, he said.
Trump “very clearly wanted to … spend time with us and hear what’s important to folks here in the state regarding energy independence, rural issues and economic development,“ Axson added. “[He] talked about the importance in having the strength necessary as a country to do what’s right and push back against evil and have a strong military that can protect us.”
Schultz, who has attended “a lot of Trump rallies” and is friends with the family, said he noticed a demeanor change in Trump in which the candidate kept the event “more positive.”
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.