![President Trump, seen here at a November 2018 campaign rally in Cleveland, is expected to return to Northeast Ohio next week for a fundraiser. [Nick Castele / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d6910b9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x675+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F7%2F30%2F2018trumpcleveland.jpg)
Updated: 11:05 a.m., Friday, July 31, 2020
President Donald Trump plans to drop into Northeast Ohio next week to raise money for his reelection bid, according to several Republican sources with knowledge of the plans.
Trump’s event is scheduled for Aug. 6, according to a notice posted on the website of Trump’s joint fundraising effort with the Republican National Committee. It wasn’t immediately clear where the president will hold the fundraiser.
The minimum contribution for the event is $5,600. Attendees can take photographs with Trump for a total contribution $35,000. For $100,000, donors can take also part in a roundtable, according to the notice.
The president also plans fundraisers in Florida on Friday and New Jersey Aug. 9, according to a schedule on his campaign’s website.
Although the Cleveland area votes majority Democratic, the region is a significant source of fundraising for the GOP. The host committee for next week’s event includes local investment banker Mike Gibbons, according to one invitation recipient. Gibbons ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio GOP Senate nomination in 2018 and co-chaired Trump’s 2016 fundraising efforts in Ohio.
The fundraising news comes as former Vice President Joe Biden begins airing campaign ads in Ohio. The Democratic candidate’s campaign bought TV time in the Toledo and Youngstown media markets, which extend into Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Biden has been holding videoconference fundraisers with donors, part of his largely virtual campaign during the coronavirus pandemic. In June, the former vice president spoke with Ohio supporters in a video call along with Sen. Sherrod Brown and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.
Both Trump and Biden will travel to Cleveland for a Sept. 29 debate, the first of the 2020 election, hosted by the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.
