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ALBANY — Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin is scheduled to attend two high-dollar fundraisers thrown in his name – one with former Vice President Mike Pence and another at ex-President Donald Trump’s swanky Palm Beach, Fla. golf club.
Long Island Republicans Matthew and Kerri Beth Bruderman are hosting a Feb. 23 dinner soiree for Zeldin at 6 p.m. in the village of Centre Island in Nassau County, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by The Post.
Tickets cost $25,000 per individual and Pence will appear as a special guest.
Zeldin — the New York GOP’s preferred candidate — is also on track for a 5:30 p.m. April 1 fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
Tickets are $25,000 per couple and the event is hosted by Anthony and Lynda Lomangino, another prominent GOP Long Island pair.
Zeldin is the New York Republican Party’s favored candidate over candidates Andrew Giuliani, son of former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who ran a failed gov campaign in 2014.
Although Trump hasn’t officially made an endorsement in the New York race, he’s previously endorsed Zeldin’s reelection campaign for Congress.
It’s also unclear whether the former president will be in attendance.
Trump also has a good relationship with Giuliani, who also used to work for the ex-president as a White House official.
The separate events also place Zeldin in the middle of a growing conflict between the former GOP allies.
Pence recently said Trump “was wrong” to claim he had the right to overturn the 2020 election, calling the idea “un-American.”
“There is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president. Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election,” the ex-VP said at a Federalist Society in Orlando Florida event last week.
Trump slammed Pence in response, calling the ex-VP “an automatic conveyor belt” for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for refusing to intervene on his behalf during the 2020 election.
Zeldin raised $4.3 million in the six-month period between July 2021 and January 2022 and his campaign has $5.6 million in cash on hand, according to the most recent state Board of Elections filing.
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