Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised more than $3.3 million at a fundraiser Thursday night in Chicago, organizers said.
And the former Massachusetts governor plans to keep tapping Illinois Republicans for money as Election Day nears.
His Illinois campaign chair, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford, acknowledged this state isn’t going to be a closely watched battleground. But he says the candidate will be back.
“Let’s just call it like it is: it’ll be primarily to raise money,” Rutherford said before heading into the fundraiser. “But in doing that too then you bring in some of the political operations, and the more you have that presence here and in other parts of the state, the more it helps somewhat lift all the votes for Republican candidates.”
Rutherford said he’s not going to ask Romney to hold a big public rally, in part, Rutherford said, because “when you take the half an hour let’s say of his time for it, I’m not sure that’s the best investment of his time here in Illinois.”
Tickets to the Romney event, held at the Pump Room in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, ranged from $2,500 for general admission, up to $75,800 for a pair of VIP tickets.
The $3.3 million Romney collected Thursday evening in Chicago comes two weeks after President Obama held a trio of fundraisers in the city.
A spokesman for the president’s campaign would not say how much was raised at those events.
