Former President Donald Trump to attend campaign fundraiser in SF on Thursday
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Former President Donald Trump is expected to head to the Bay Area on Thursday for a campaign fundraiser in San Francisco.
His visit to the city comes despite the city's voter base being primarily blue.
Trump had nine percent of the vote in San Francisco during the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton.
RELATED: How Trump's guilty verdict will impact the 2024 presidential election
Many remember Trump's trek through fencing and dirt to get into the back entrance of a Burlingame hotel while trying to avoid protesters during a 2016 campaign stop on the Peninsula.
"We went under a fence and through a fence and oh boy, it felt like I was crossing the border actually," Trump said during his campaign stop in April of 2016.
This Bay Area fundraiser comes less than a week after being convicted of 34 charges by a New York City jury in the "hush money" trial.
RELATED: Guilty: Donald Trump becomes first former U.S. president convicted of felony crimes
"The more that he can sell to his supporters that he's a victim, he thinks he's going to do better electorally," said Nolan Higdon, a Cal State East Bay Professor of History and Communication. He believes Trump is taking full advantage of the timing of this trip.
"I think there's at least some part of Trump that thinks, in terms of politics and campaigning, this is great for him," Higdon said. "It's a great time to fundraise and he did raise roughly about $52 million shortly after the verdicts came out."
The political news outlet Puck News' obtained an invitation to Trump's Pacific Heights event.
According to the invitation, it's being hosted by tech billionaire David Sacks, his wife Jacqueline and venture capitalist, Chamath Palihapitiya of the All-In podcast.
"People are coming from all over California," Mindy Pechenuk, a candidate running for Oakland City Council who is part of a group of Trump supporters organizing a rally to greet him at San Francisco's Marina Green on Thursday at 2 p.m.
RELATED: Biden, Trump agree to presidential debates hosted by ABC News and CNN
Though, Trump is scheduled to be hosting a town hall at the same time in Phoenix, Pechenuk and other Trump supporters are hoping he might swing by.
This is the same place where Presidents Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama have arrived in Marine One in the past.
"This is a rally, just a group of us, men and women, citizens, we the people, wanted to greet Trump, Donald Trump, coming to San Francisco and let him know our love is there, our support is there," Pechenuk said.
Logan Chadwick who lives in Lower Pacific Heights was surprised to learn about this visit.
"I guess I'm surprised, I wouldn't exactly expect to find much of his voter base here," Chadwick said. "Hoping for respect, hoping for keeping decorum and that sort of thing and maintaining the integrity of this beautiful space."
Fundraiser tickets range in price from $50,000 to $500,000.
Eight years ago before being elected, he charged $100 per plate at his event in Burlingame.
