Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump yells “Fight, fight, fight” during a campaign rally at the Ed Frye Arena in Indianapolis, Pennsylvania, Monday, September 23, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
Jennifer A. Drohey and Mitchell Fuhrman
Donald Trump is planning a new fundraiser in Texas, rallying oil-rich donors as he tries to close the cash gap with Kamala Harris in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.
The agenda includes a luncheon on Oct. 2 in the Midland area of Texas – in the heart of the oil-rich Permian Basin – followed by a cocktail reception in Houston, according to people familiar with the matter.
Among those being mentioned to host a reception for Trump in Houston are Jeff Hildebrand, the billionaire CEO of Hilcorp Energy, and his wife, Melinda Hildebrand, who are major donors to Trump’s political campaigns. The Hildebrands, who are major donors to Trump’s political campaigns, did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the fundraising, which was first reported by The New York Times.
These events come at a critical time for Trump, who has struggled to keep up with Harris’ fundraising and is losing money to Democrats. Buoyed by donations from Wall Street and Silicon Valley, Harris was able to spend an average of $7.5 million a day in August, $5 million more than Trump was able to raise.
The former president raised $130 million in August, less than half of the $361 million Harris raised. Trump attended a fundraiser in California earlier this month, but he has spent most of his campaign rallies and speeches rather than meeting with donors. Vice presidential running mate J.D. Vance has headlined some fundraisers on Trump’s behalf.
Trump is increasingly turning to the oil and gas industry to replenish his campaign coffers, leveraging his record of supporting the industry as a priority during his first term in the White House and his pledge to repeal Biden administration policies that discourage fossil fuel production.
As president, Trump helped lower the cost of oil development by loosening regulations put in place during the term of former President Barack Obama. He also took steps to help struggling oil companies after the 2020 pandemic lockdowns caused oil prices to collapse, including intervening in April 2020 to broker an agreement with OPEC+ countries to cut production and raise prices.
At a 2020 rally in Midland, Trump reminded voters of his efforts to bail out the industry. “When oil prices collapsed, I got Saudi Arabia, Russia and others to cut production by about 10 million barrels per day, and I got OPEC+ and Mexico to agree,” Trump said at the time. “These actions stabilized crashing global oil prices, saved millions of energy jobs and, frankly, saved your industry.”
Lawmakers are investigating Trump’s promise to roll back environmental regulations when he met with oil company executives earlier this year and asked donors for $1 billion in aid.
First Published: 25 Sep 2024 | 09:36 AM IST
