Vice President JD Vance's Visit To Nantucket Brings Heavy Security, Protests

Vice President JD Vance arrived on Nantucket late Tuesday morning to attend a Republican National Committee fundraiser, bringing a heavy security presence and protests to the island.

After a brief boating excursion out to Great Point, Vance attended the GOP fundraiser at the home of Bob Reynolds, the CEO of Putnam Investments. The event brought in a reported $3 million for the Republican National Committee.

Here's how Vance's mid-summer visit to the island unfolded on Tuesday:

As State Police helicopters hovered around Nantucket Memorial Airport, Vance and his wife Usha touched down around 11:30 a.m. aboard Air Force Two, a modified Boeing 757, which flew in directly over Nobadeer Beach. Protesters were waiting along Airport Road to greet them, but the massive motorcade took a detour out the backside of the airport property onto Bunker Road and then down Milestone Road. 

The couple and their massive security entourage proceeded immediately to Coast Guard Station Brant Point, where the Vances boarded a 70-foot Spencer yacht, the Irish Rover. Flanked by State Police and Coast Guard security vessels, the Irish Rover took the Vances out to Great Point rip for several hours before returning to Brant Point. It's unclear if the group went fishing.

As Vance was returning to the Coast Guard Station, protesters from Nantucket and some who had traveled from off-island were gathering only a few hundred yards away at Children's Beach. The rally - called "Say No To The 'Yes-Man' - was organized by the local group Indivisible Nantucket, along with Mass 50501, Cape Cod Women for Change, and Cape Cod resident Amanda McGonigle, who runs the viral anti-Vance Instagram account @catsonacouch. As the group listened to speeches and music on the bandstand, Vance's motorcade left the Coast Guard station, and returned the couple to a heavily guarded home on Monomoy Road, overlooking Nantucket Harbor. The property is owned by private equity executive Keith Frankel.

Harbormaster Sheila Lucey had previously announced a maritime security zone around the Monomoy area from 10 a.m. on Tuesday through noon on Wednesday, restricting access to mooring permit holders during that time.

Around 4:30 p.m., the protesters marched from Children's Beach out to Cliff Road, surrounding the intersection at Hinckley Lane, which was the access point to the fundraising event. The crowd grew to more than 100 people who were holding signs, chanting, and booing every car that turned onto Hinckley Lane.

Secret Service agents, State Police, and Nantucket Police Department officers kept a watchful eye on the protest as people shouted at Vance's motorcade as it arrived.