Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to headline the New Albany Community Foundation's 2026 Remarkable Evening benefit on November 10, sharing the stage with historians Walter Isaacson and Jon Meacham in the affluent Columbus suburb. The exact venue will not be disclosed until tickets are purchased, a security protocol the foundation has attached to the long-running fundraiser.
As reported by The Columbus Dispatch, this year's gathering marks the 24th annual Remarkable Evening, a benefit that has raised almost $40 million for the foundation's grantmaking, community projects and programming over the decades. The 2026 edition carries the theme America at 250: Reflections on Leadership and Democracy, tying the evening to the nation's semiquincentennial.
Pence, who served as the 48th vice president of the United States under President Donald Trump before leaving office in January 2021, brings a résumé that spans six terms as an Indiana congressman, a stint as Indiana governor, work practicing law, and time hosting a talk show before he entered elected office, according to the Dispatch's reporting. He has spent much of 2026 touring the country pressing Republicans to return to Reagan-era conservative principles rather than what he characterizes as Trump-era populism, a message he delivered recently in an Indianapolis address tied to his new book, What Conservatives Believe, unveiled at the Indiana Historical Society.
A Familiar Face in Central Ohio
New Albany will not be Pence's first stop in the region this year. He appeared at Denison University in nearby Licking County in April, where, as Hoodline previously reported in its piece on Pence's Denison remarks, he addressed conservative traditions, election security and the national debt as part of the university's Babcock Lecture Series. Pence also runs Advancing American Freedom, the policy advocacy organization he founded in 2021 that issues briefs on economic affordability, defense and constitutional law.
His current message dovetails with a broader circuit of appearances that have included a student patriotism symposium in Knoxville and reflective remarks in Palm Beach, both chronicled in earlier Hoodline coverage. He also received the JFK Profile in Courage Award in Boston last year for certifying the 2020 election results, an honor Hoodline covered at the time.
Historians Bring the Semiquincentennial Angle
Joining Pence on the New Albany stage are Walter Isaacson and Jon Meacham, both veteran figures on the Remarkable Evening circuit. This will be Isaacson's third headline appearance at the benefit, and it comes on the heels of his book The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, which examines the Declaration of Independence's promise of equality ahead of the country's 250th birthday, according to the dossier's background on his publisher, Simon & Schuster.
Meacham, making his fourth appearance at the benefit, was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Biden in 2024 and was named Semiquincentennial Scholar by the National Constitution Center in 2026 to help anchor national programming around the anniversary. Their pairing with Pence gives the evening both a sitting-history perspective from a former vice president and scholarly framing from two of the country's most prominent presidential historians.
A Storied Guest List and a Fast-Growing Suburb
The Remarkable Evening has previously hosted former President Bill Clinton, former President George W. Bush, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gen. Colin Powell, and actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, according to the Dispatch. Last year's benefit drew about 700 attendees, underscoring the scale the foundation has built since the fundraiser's founding.
New Albany itself has become one of Central Ohio's wealthiest municipalities, with a median household income of $238,250 and a median property value of $772,100 as of 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data — more than double the Ohio state average. The city is also home to Intel Corporation's $28 billion semiconductor manufacturing campus, billed as the largest single private-sector investment in Ohio history and nicknamed the Silicon Heartland.
Funding Local Landmarks
Proceeds from past Remarkable Evening benefits have helped build tangible civic infrastructure, including the $1.2 million New Albany Branch Library in 2002 and the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts in 2008, a project built through a public-private partnership involving the city, school district and township. The New Albany Community Foundation, founded in 1995 by Jack Kessler and Ralph Johnson, has awarded more than $25 million in cumulative grants supporting lifelong learning, arts and culture, health and wellness, and a sustainable environment, and it operates as a component fund of the Columbus Foundation.
The foundation also runs the companion New Albany Lecture Series, which enters its 14th season in 2026 after bringing national figures to more than 44,000 public attendees and 37,000 central Ohio students across 50 high schools. Together, the two programs illustrate how the foundation has used marquee speakers to fuel both its educational reach and its local grantmaking in one of the region's fastest-growing communities.
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