Former President Donald Trump will visit Bucks County for a fundraiser on April 13

Former President Donald Trump is slated to be back in Pennsylvania for a fundraiser in Bucks County on April 13 — just 10 days before the state’s primary.

The fundraiser in Newtown will be hosted by several longtime GOP donors, including a health club owner who defied COVID closures in 2020. Tickets for the event start at $2,500 a person and go up to $250,000 for a host couple, according to the invitation.

Bucks County, Philadelphia’s only truly purple collar county, is one of the nation’s most important political battlegrounds and one of a handful of bellwether areas in the key swing state. The fundraiser is in U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s district. The moderate Republican has not said whether he’ll endorse Trump and his campaign did not respond when asked whether he would be attending Trump’s event.

Trump has trailed President Joe Biden significantly in fundraising, partly due to needing to raise money to pay legal fees and judgments stemming from a flood of both criminal and civil cases against him.

His campaign has amped up fundraising recently, though, and along with the Republican National Committee, reported Thursday raising $65 million in March. He’s expected to attend a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Fla., this weekend hosted by investor John Paulson and co-chaired by aerospace executive Robert Bigelow, casino billionaire Steve Wynn, and hedge fund manager Robert Mercer.

“Our campaign, working together with the RNC, has been steadily ramping up our fundraising efforts, and our March numbers are a testament to the overwhelming support for President Trump by voters all across the spectrum,” Trump campaign co-manager Susie Wiles said in a statement to Politico.

Biden’s fundraising numbers have not yet been released but the campaign raised $53 million in February and recently held a massive fundraiser in New York featuring former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

The campaign recently opened 14 field offices across Pennsylvania, including three in Bucks County.

“The only times Donald Trump has come to Pennsylvania this year has been to campaign with the gun lobby and beg millionaires to bail out his struggling campaign before retreating back to Mar-a-Lago,” said Jack Doyle, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign in Pennsylvania.

Trump also visited the state to launch his sneaker brand in February.

Adam Kidan is perhaps the most prolific GOP donor hosting the Bucks event. Kidan, a former Manheim Township resident who now lives in South Florida, has given about $1.5 million to Republicans and GOP political committees since 2016, according to campaign finance records.

Kidan works in the temporary staffing industry and is the former business partner of disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, with whom he purchased SunCruz, an international cruise company, in 2000.

In 2005 Kidan and Abramoff pleaded guilty to defrauding lenders who helped them buy SunCruz. Kidan began a 70-month federal prison sentence in 2006 and was paroled in 2009.

He’s since become a major GOP backer, philanthropist in the area, and one of the largest donors to U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, who represents Lancaster.

The fundraiser is also co-hosted by Jim Worthington, the owner of the Newtown Athletic Club. Worthington became a controversial figure in 2020 after reopening his 25,000-square-foot gym and health club amid coronavirus closure orders.

He is a prominent supporter of former Trump who hosted him near the health club in 2016, and previously served on Trump’s presidential council on physical fitness and sports.

Worthington helped form a political advocacy group called People4Trump, which organized three buses to take 200 people from Bucks County to attend Trump’s Washington rally on Jan. 6. Worthington filed a lawsuit in 2021 after a Doylestown man set up a website accusing Worthington of organizing the trip personally. Worthington sued, and the man issued a public apology.

According to the lawsuit, Worthington traveled separately to D.C., and arrived on Jan. 5. The complaint says that Worthington, who was not among those charged in connection with the riot, did not participate in criminal acts, or go to the Capitol.

Worthington, whose girlfriend Kim Levins is also a co-host, is a longtime GOP donor who has given about $56,000 to GOP candidates and groups since 2016.

The other hosts are Debra and Dom Caglioti, who have lived in New Jersey and Florida, according to campaign finance records. They’ve given upwards of $80,000 to Trump and other Republicans since 2016. Caglioti is a CPA and a managing partner of the Caglioti Group. He’s also on the board of directors of the National Italian American Foundation.