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Vice President JD Vance appeared to join the parade of elected officials fundraising in Jackson Hole this summer with a visit on Tuesday that drew a small crowd of protestors.
It’s not clear what brought Vance to town, but fundraising events are common this time of year and ahead of the midterm elections.
Although nobody from the group of a dozen demonstrators saw Vance’s motorcade, they confirmed his visit with flight information and said others in town saw a group of cars heading toward a private residence near Fall Creek Road south of town around noon.
WyoFile photographed Vance hiking down the Old Pass Road on the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Wilson. It was an impromptu hike led by a Bridger-Teton ambassador, spokesperson C.J. Adams said.
The activists gathered in Teton Village to let the vice president know he wasn’t welcome at what they expected to be a high-dollar lunch at the Four Seasons. The hotel declined to comment, and it was not clear if any events were held there.
Last summer, Vance raised money for the Republican National Convention at a $100,000 lunch hosted by GOP megadonor Lynn Friess and JHMR investors Karen and Jay Kemmerer. Vance is the first vice president to also serve as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee.
Protestors didn’t mince words on signs they held at the turnoff to the village.
“JD Vance protects pedophiles,” one sign alleged on Wednesday. Another called him a fascist traitor. Jules Shelton, 26, said Vance seems more interested in data centers than public lands.
“This is a place where the billionaires like to act like it’s their playground,” the service worker said. “They’re remaking the American West and it’s deeply affecting communities.”
Jakob Crank, 41, told KHOL he wants to see less money in politics.
“Come back to Earth. Represent your people. A $200,000 — or whatever it is — lunch in secret is not representative of the masses of the people of Wyoming.”
His girlfriend, Kara DeCaneo, 49, added that elected officials who don’t support public lands shouldn’t fundraise in a place like Jackson that sits at the base of Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
“The audacity of them to come here primarily for funds while they’re defunding our parks is just atrocious,” the massage therapist and political activist said. DeCaneo said she used to work at the Four Seasons and “quit once they started getting all ‘Republican.’”
The demonstrators dispersed after a few hours. The vice president’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier in the month, House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly hosted an annual fundraiser in Jackson Hole with SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and other speakers.
More federal government officials, including the new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, are in town this week for the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.
