Presidential Candidate Huntsman to Raise Funds in Newport Beach

John Huntsman will bring his bid for the Republican presidential nomination to Newport Beach on Monday with a fundraiser at the .

Tickets to an hour-long "VIP reception" cost $2,500 per person. It will cost $1,000 to get into a 90-minute dinner. Huntsman, former governor of Utah, was last in Orange County fundraising in May.

Huntsman declared his candidacy Tuesday in New Jersey.

"We must make broad and bold changes to our tax code and regulatory policies, seize the lost opportunity of energy independence and re-establish what it means to be a teacher in society," he said.

Huntsman also said he would "conduct this campaign on the high road."

In response to Huntsman announcing his candidacy, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, said in a statement that Huntsman had "reversed himself on positions he took as governor," and has "become a typical Mitt Romney-like politician whose ambition is more important than his principles" and "like every Republican running for president, Jon Huntsman offered no plan to improve our economy and create jobs."

Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller told City News Service Wasserman Schultz's "comments were a distortion of Governor Huntsman's record and demonstrate that the DNC is scared of seeing him in a general election."

— City News Service