U.S. Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, is scheduled to visit Colorado in October, according to a flyer obtained by The Colorado Sun.
The Ohio Republican, who would be vice president if Trump is elected, is set to attend a Denver fundraiser Oct. 8, according to the flyer.
The event will be hosted by Larry Mizel, a Republican megadonor and Israel booster who lives in Denver and is founder and executive chairman of MDC Holdings, a home construction company headquartered in Denver. Former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, is also listed as a host.
Tickets start at $3,300 and the fundraiser will benefit the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising committee that splits its proceeds between Trump’s campaign, his leadership political action committee, the Republican National Committee and state political parties across the country.
Vance’s planned visit comes after Trump said he would visit Aurora, which is just east of Denver, as part of his exaggerated claims about the influence of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, in the city. The former president has falsely said the Venezuelan gang has taken over the “whole town” and that his massive deportation plan will begin in Aurora and Springfield, Ohio, where he has said without evidence that Haitian immigrants are eating other people’s pets.
Trump has used Aurora and Springfield to attack Democrats on immigration.
While there have been a handful of members of Tren de Aragua arrested in the city, claims that they have taken control have either been exaggerated or totally debunked. “Based on our initial investigative work, we believe reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated,” Aurora police said in a statement.
Trump said last week that he would visit Aurora and Springfield within two weeks.
It’s unclear if Vance will also visit Aurora when he stops in Colorado, or if Trump plans to follow through on his pledge to visit the city.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Aurora officials also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Although polling shows Trump in a close race against Vice President Kamala Harris nationally, Trump is widely expected to lose to Harris in Colorado. A recent poll showed him trailing Harris in the Centennial State by 15 percentage points.
The Morning Consult poll, which appears to be the first public survey in Colorado since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, was conducted from Aug. 30 to Sept. 8. In 2020 Trump lost in Colorado to Joe Biden by 13.5 percentage points. Biden led Trump by similar margins in 2020 polls in Colorado conducted at roughly the same point in the cycle as the recent Morning Consult survey.
Trump hasn’t made a public appearance in Colorado since February 2020, when he held a rally in Colorado Springs with Gardner.
He recently attended a private campaign fundraiser in Aspen, an event that was cohosted by Mizel and his wife, Carol.
