Former First Lady Melania Trump announced at a fundraiser on Saturday a major voter outreach initiative to garner conservative gay and lesbian support for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid—in an effort to boost his standing with a group that, more broadly, voted against him in 2020, according to fundraiser organizers.
Melania Trump, who has mostly avoided her husband’s campaign trail this cycle, made a rare appearance at a political event Saturday night, speaking as a guest of honor at a fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans, the largest conservative LGBTQ+ organization in the United States.
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Melania Trump addressed conservative LGBTQ+ supporters at the sold-out fundraiser, saying the money raised that night—more than $1 million, according to organizers—would go toward an effort to deploy resources to key swing states to educate voters about conservative LGBTQ+ causes and deliver pro-Trump messages among gay and lesbian communities, according to Bill White, one of the co-hosts and a longtime friend of Donald Trump.
Richard Grenell, a former US ambassador to Germany and former acting director of national intelligence under Trump, who became the first openly gay person to hold a Cabinet-level position in the United States, will lead the new Log Cabin Republicans initiative, with assistance from White, a former president of the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, and White’s husband, Bryan Eure, a senior vice president at insurance brokerage firm Willis Towers Watson.
This effort is expected to be one of Melania Trump’s top goals, according to White, and she plans to promote it with “upcoming activities”—a s significant contrast given how little Melania Trump campaigned for her husband in 2016 or 2020. The Trump team did not share any information on potential events for conservative gay and lesbian voters.
“They hear us, see us, and love us,” White said about the Trumps’ message to Log Cabin Republicans on Saturday night.
Melania Trump’s involvement with the Log Cabin Republicans movement follows months of her absence from the public eye as her husband’s third presidential campaign heats up. She has, however, maintained some of her own initiatives, such as speaking at a naturalization ceremony for new US citizens in December, doing charity work with a local foster care organization in 2021, and launching a line of digital collectibles, Christmas ornaments, and, most recently, a $245 Mother’s Day necklace.
She last appeared in public on the campaign trail earlier this month at a significant Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser for Donald Trump and Republicans, where organizers claimed to have raised more than $50 million, and last month at a Palm Beach polling place where the former president cast his vote in the Florida Republican primary.
White told ABC News that the gay Republican initiative will include “digital footprints in all of the key swing states,” as well as “extensive research and development into who we need to be communicating with and how we will communicate with them,” in an effort to persuade America’s gay and lesbian community that “Donald Trump is the best choice for all of us.”
Polling suggests that he has historically lacked support among those voters. Exit polls showed that rival Joe Biden won 64–27% of self-identified LGBTQ+ voters over Trump. But that was a tiny increase for Trump compared to 2016, when he received only 14%.
While the former president set himself apart from some other prominent conservatives by accepting gay people, his anti-trans sentiments have sparked widespread outrage among the LGBTQ+ community.
White said that pro-Trump voices in the LGBTQ+ community had risen enormously since Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, citing efforts by national pro-Trump LGBTQ+ alliances.
“We are gay Republicans, and we are voting for Trump,” he told reporters. “He is the best and only choice in this election for our health, prosperity, safety, and security.”
Digital commercials for Log Cabin Republicans will feature parts of Melania Trump’s speech at the fundraiser on Saturday night, according to White.
“We are so grateful to Mrs. Trump for her strategic leadership and for making this initiative one of her top priorities for the 2024 presidential campaign and for the successful election of her husband,” said Mr. Trump.
Prior to the fundraiser on Saturday morning, Grenell, another gay conservative ally, endorsed Donald Trump as “the best candidate for our safety, security, and prosperity.”
“He sees you as 100% equal; it’s up to you to be responsible, hardworking, and successful,” he went on to say. “Anyone who suggests that you face oppression in America or require special accommodations due to your sexual orientation is merely trying to exert control over you.”
Melania and Donald Trump have long had a close relationship with Log Cabin Republicans. Melania Trump attended their annual event at Mar-a-Lago in 2021, where she received the group’s Spirit of Lincoln award for “helping children reach their full potential” and “championing a more inclusive Republican Party.”
In 2022, Donald Trump headlined the Log Cabin Republicans’ Spirit of Lincoln event at Mar-a-Lago, telling the audience, “We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting very hard.”
