Trump's Los Angeles fundraiser once again shows the power of Southern California's wallets – Daily News

On Thursday night, former President Donald Trump spent money on his campaign trail in Los Angeles, headlining the latest in a long series of local fundraisers for the president.

Both Los Angeles and Orange County are important targets for Republican and Democratic campaigns, who often come to the cities to raise money to take to swing states to help influence voters.

For updates, see: Trump speaks of landslides at press conference in Rancho Palos Verdes and calls California “a mess”

Since February, there have been more than a dozen campaign fundraisers in the two counties, headlined by some of the biggest names in presidential politics – President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris, Ohio Senator JD Vance, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.

“Like any good shopper, sometimes you have to go to the ATM more than once, and if you're a good presidential candidate, you've come to LA, the nation's ATM, more than once,” said Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo.

So far this election cycle, individual donors from California have given more than $88 million to the Harris campaign and more than $32 million to the Trump campaign, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. In Los Angeles County, Harris has raked in more than $22 million and Trump has raked in more than $6 million.

These data include individual donations up to the $3,300 contribution limit and do not include the many millions that Southern California donors also gave to political action committees.

And even though the Golden State is a Democratic stronghold, there are still plenty of wealthy Republican donors there who are only too happy to open their homes and wallets to representatives of the Trump-Vance campaign.

“As blue as California is, don't forget that there are over a million Republicans in Los Angeles County,” said Tim O'Reilly, chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party. “There is a very strong conservative influence here.”

So far, Trump has raised about $6 million in Orange County and Harris about $4 million.

Last week, Vance spoke at fundraisers in San Diego County and Los Angeles. In July, Trump went on a fundraising tour of Beverly Hills and Newport Beach and is back in town this week for more donations.

“Even though California is a foregone conclusion, we are the cash machine for national campaigns,” said Matt Jarvis, associate professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton. “And Orange County, even though it's much more 'political' than it used to be, is still a place where Republicans come to raise money. There's still Orange County Republicanism here.”

In fact, Newport Beach's 92660 ZIP code is one of the largest Trump campaign donors in the entire country. Individuals residing in 92660 have donated more than $415,000 to Trump's 2024 campaign through July 31, according to Federal Election Commission data.