Vice President Mike Pence coming to Nashville next week for Trump fundraiser – The Tennessean

Vice President Mike Pence coming to Nashville next week for Trump fundraiser  The Tennessean

Vice President Mike Pence will appear in Nashville next month at a fundraiser to support President Donald Trump in his bid for reelection, a dinner with tickets …

Vice President Mike Pence will appear in Nashville next month at a fundraiser to support President Donald Trump in his bid for reelection, a dinner with tickets ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.

According to an invitation to the dinner distributed in a Tennessee political email newsletter earlier this month, Pence will visit Music City on Oct. 7, though the specific location of the dinner has not been publicly announced.

Top donors attending the event include Jim and Natalie Haslam, the parents of former Gov. Bill Haslam. Jim Haslam is also the founder of Pilot Corp.

Other high-level sponsors include Willis Johnson, founder of the auto salvage auction corporation Copart and household chore app Takl; Barney Byrd, president of Gen Cap America; Copart CEO Jay Adair; Tommy Fitzgerald, founder of truck reassembly company Fitzgerald Glider Kits; Mike Hodges, founder and chairman of Advance Financial; Gary McNabb, owner of a Cookeville payday lending service; and Andrew Puzder, a one-time Trump nominee for labor secretary and former CEO of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.

Tennessee Republican Party Executive Director Michael Sullivan confirmed that Pence would be traveling to the state Oct. 7.

Donation levels to the Trump Victory Committee for the dinner include serving as a co-chair for $100,000, along with the above listed sponsors. A $50,000 donation is good for two spots at a roundtable.

For $15,000, attendees can have a photo taken with Pence. A VIP dinner ticket costs $5,000, while the base ticket price is $1,000.

Pence, who headlined the Tennessee Republican Party’s annual Statesmen’s Dinner fundraiser in 2017, came to the state twice in 2018: to speak at the National Religious Broadcasters conference in Nashville and to Cleveland later that year.

Tennessee voters overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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Published 6:26 PM EDT Sep 23, 2019