ANNAPOLIS — Former Maryland Del. Carmen Amedori says when she gets to Mar-a-Lago for a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, one of the people she hopes to meet is Kyle Rittenhouse, the 19-year-old who was acquitted of fatally shooting two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020 during a protest.
“The Kenosha kid,” she said. “I’d like to see him.”
Amedori said she has no reason to believe Rittenhouse will be at the event. She just hopes he is.
She also wants to meet 16-year-old Barron Trump.
“It would be really great if Barron was in sight somewhere, but they don’t bring him out,” she said.
Amedori is not, however, paying $25,000 for a fundraising photograph with his father, former President Donald Trump.
“Hell, no,” she said. “But I’m sure there are people who would pay the $25,000.”
Amedori is one of the people attending the $1,776-per-person fundraiser Trump is throwing at his exclusive Florida resort for Cox.
The Oct. 17 event is to try to shore up the sagging finances of the man who attended Trump’s Jan. 6, 2020, and who Trump has endorsed to be Maryland’s next governor. On Nov. 8, Cox will square off in the midterm election against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wes Moore, who is leading him 10 to 1 in campaign fundraising, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections campaign finance report.
The cocktail reception is $1,776 per person and attendees can take a photo with Trump and Cox for $25,000, according to the invitation sent to previous Cox donors and obtained Sept. 22 by Capital News Service. The event will also serve as the 46th birthday party for Cox’s wife, Valerie Cox, the invitation said.
When Amedori, a Republican, received an invitation to Mar-a-Lago, curiosity consumed her. She has never been to the private estate. Few people have or ever will. To host an event at the resort, a current member of the club must sponsor it, according to the Mar-a-Lago Club website. Guests of events can stay in the “lavish guest rooms and suites” and enjoy a variety of activities – from golf to spas to salons to tennis.
Amedori wondered what the lavish interior might be, and what high-profile figures might be under the same roof with her.
So, she bought a ticket and booked a flight.
“It’s exciting thinking about who’s going to be there, not just in Maryland, but the other conservatives, the other constitutionalists who are going to be in that same room,” she said. “So, I’m looking forward to seeing who’s going to be there, and of course, I’m looking forward to getting a glimpse of former President Trump.”
Amedori is a longtime supporter of Cox and a frequent donor to his campaign. Maryland State Board of Elections records show she has made 12 contributions over the campaign period. She worked on Cox’s campaign from the start in 2021 and was his Carroll County coordinator during the primary.
Amedori first noticed Cox when she saw him while watching an online meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, the same panel on which she served from 1999 to 2004.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. He is me on steroids,’” she said. “And it was so refreshing to see somebody down there really fighting for our constitutional rights. Then when he decided to run for governor, I was right on board.”
These days, Amedori, 66, works as a referral realtor for properties in Ocean City, Maryland, and cares for her cat, Mosby.
But her life has been filled with twists and turns, from her time serving on the Maryland General Assembly, to her previous days as a journalist at the Baltimore Sun, the Carroll County Times, Towson Times and Ocean City Today.
She received a Society of Professional Journalists award for work she did about the Maryland State Police, where she trained with and stayed with an incoming class at the academy in Pikesville. It is where she first learned to shoot a firearm.
She also dabbled as an author. She wrote a short children’s book called “Kara and Pug” about her daughter and her daughter’s dog. Amedori said she donates all the proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Additionally, she has appeared on Netflix’s House of Cards as a background actor and won a role as a Democrat for a scene about the Democratic National Convention.
“I had this blue suit from when I was a politician,” Amedori said. “It was an ultra suede, royal blue, Democrat blue suit, and I thought, ‘I’m gonna wear this.’ And it was the suit that got me that spot in that convention, which is ironic.”
After Amedori left the General Assembly in 2004, she was appointed to the Parole Commission, where she served until 2010.
She will attend Cox’s cocktail reception with her 40-year-old daughter, Kara, who lives in Palm Beach.
“It will be a mother-daughter reunion at Mar-a-Lago,” she said.
But before she goes, she has one last thing to do.
“Now the object is finding an outfit,” she said.
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