Trump brings in $3M from single fundraising event

by Jonathan Swan - 09/09/16 5:13 PM ET

Donald Trump had a very profitable evening Thursday, hauling in an estimated more than $3 million at a single event on a farm just outside of Cleveland, according to a source.

“The fact that people came in from out of town to go to that, I think said something,” the source said.

{mosads}Trump, the GOP presidential candidate, has been slower to charm the donor class than any Republican nominee in recent memory — largely because the billionaire spent the entire primary campaign telling rich conservatives he didn’t want their cash. And to be sure, there are still many establishment donors who will never write a check for Trump.

But sources at the highest levels of Trump’s fundraising operation have described a turning point recently with Trump closing the gap on rival Hillary Clinton in the polls.

In early August, when Trump was plummeting in the polls and engaged in a feud with the family of a fallen war hero, the situation got so bad on several days that at least one senior fundraiser briefly stopped making pitches for new money.

With Trump’s newfound momentum, however, donors are answering their phones more readily, and on Thursday night, the real estate mogul charmed a room full of wealthy Republicans, some of whom had traveled large distances across Ohio to be there, a donor in attendance said.

The fundraiser was held on the farm of renowned GOP fundraiser Eddie Crawford, the source said.

Crawford is Trump’s Ohio fundraising chairman and a pillar of the state’s political establishment, with close ties to Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Trump boasted to the 250 or so donors assembled at Crawford’s fundraiser that he’d won the night against Clinton at Wednesday’s military-themed “Commander-in-Chief Forum” on NBC News.

Trump also talked up his recent rise in the polls. He’s drawn within the margin of error of Clinton in some recent national and battleground state surveys.

“He’s really charming when he does these things informally,” said the donor who attended Crawford’s fundraiser. “He recognizes people, he makes great eye contact. … It’s almost like he’s a comedian up there, smiling and joking.

“He connects with them.”

Asked about the Ohio fundraising haul on Thursday, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, “We had two great fundraisers with people who are committed to us winning the state where we are currently leading according to the most recent polls.”

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton