JD Vance woos crypto industry at fundraiser in East Palo Alto
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance was the guest of honor Monday night at a fundraiser in East Palo Alto at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Mystery initially shrouded the event, which included an invite that did not disclose an address. Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco lawyer and Republican powerhouse in the Bay Area, threw out an invitation on social media, which has been viewed more than 72,000 times.
She said that anyone who wanted to attend should contact her and she'll "hook you up."
Tickets ranged between $3,300 and $50,000 per couple.
The Santa Cruz County Republicans, which also was promoting the event, said that interested guests could pay with digital currency.
Bloomberg reported that BitGo CEO Mike Belshe was throwing the fundraiser.
Vance, a senator from Ohio, introduced himself to the world in 2016 when he published his bestselling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," under the name J.D. Vance. He was born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio in 1984.
He was elected to the Senate in 2022 and has become one of the staunchest champions of the former president’s "Make America Great Again" agenda, particularly on trade, foreign policy and immigration.
Vance has become a fixture on the conservative media circuit and frequently spars with reporters on Capitol Hill, helping establish him as the kind of leader who could carry Trump’s mantle into the future, beginning with the next presidential election in 2028.
During the early stages of Trump’s political career, Vance cast him as "a total fraud," "a moral disaster" and "America’s Hitler."
But like many Republicans who sought relevance in the Trump era, Vance eventually shifted his tone. He said he was proved wrong by Trump’s performance in office and evolved into one of his most steadfast defenders.
Vance served in the Marine Corps, including in Iraq, and graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
From there, he joined a Silicon Valley investment firm before returning to Ohio to launch a nonprofit that he said would aim to develop opioid addiction treatments that might be "scaled nationally."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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