Donald Trump Jr., left, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach talk during a fundraiser for Kobach's campaign for governor Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, in Overland Park, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Overland Park ? The President of the United States’ eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., praised his father, calling him a “blue-collar millionaire,” during a campaign appearance in Johnson County Tuesday night on behalf of Kansas Secretary of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach.

The younger Trump said his father is unfairly portrayed in the media and has more in common with average Kansans than the people of his home state of New York.

But he also admitted that growing up in the household of one of the wealthiest men in America was a very different kind of childhood experience.

“He wasn’t the ‘let’s go play ball in the backyard’ kind of guy, if you haven’t noticed that about him,” Trump Jr. said.

A little more than 400 people paid between $200 and $2,000 a plate for the chance to see and hear the younger Trump, according to a Kobach campaign aide who declined to say exactly how much money was raised for the campaign.

Donald Trump, Jr., left, son of President Donald Trump, was the guest of honor at a campaign fundraiser Tuesday in Overland Park for Kansas Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach.

For about 45 minutes, Trump Jr. and Kobach shared the stage at an Overland Park hotel ballroom and talked about the elder Trump, the campaign, and conservative politics.

Kobach, an early supporter of Trump during the 2016 primary campaign, was not sparing in his praise for the president, saying that his habit of tweeting unscripted and unpolished messages is part of what makes him a unique president.

“Your dad’s the most transparent president ever,” he declared.

The younger Trump credited his father with emboldening conservatives.

“I think he’s actually given conservatives the ability to actually feel free to speak up again,” he said to roaring applause.

The event focused as much on President Trump and the 2016 campaign as it did on Kobach’s upcoming campaign for governor. But before introducing Trump Jr., Kobach did take time to deliver his own stump speech, vowing that if he’s elected governor, he will work to reverse the tax policies Kansas lawmakers enacted this year, reform state government by championing term limits and crack down further on illegal immigration.

“We have become the sanctuary state of the Midwest,” Kobach said, referring to a state law that allows undocumented children who grow up in Kansas and meet other admissions requirements to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

While candidates for high state office often bring big names to Kansas to help them raise money — often with little fanfare from anyone other than donors — the fundraiser with the president’s son drew an unusual amount of attention, particularly from other GOP candidates in the race.

“Kris Kobach won’t be draining any swamps as governor,” gubernatorial candidate Jim Barnett, a former state senator from Emporia, said in a statement released Monday. “After seven years as Secretary of State, with little to show for it except lawsuits and out of state speeches, his record is the swamp we are trying to escape.”

Kobach is the author of numerous state and local laws enacted around the country aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, although several of those laws have been struck down by federal courts.

In Kansas, he is perhaps best known for authoring a voting law that requires new voters to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register. Tens of thousands of people have had their registrations held up due to that law, and major portions of it were enjoined by a federal court last year.

Wichita entrepreneur Ed O’Malley, also a former legislator, also issued a statement in response to the Trump fundraising event, saying that it showed Kobach’s political ambitions actually lie outside Kansas.

“By bringing Donald Trump Jr. to town for a fundraising event in Kansas City tonight, Kris Kobach again demonstrates he isn’t really interested in Kansas,” he said. “He wanted a job with President Trump and didn’t get one. Now he wants to hobnob with Donald Trump Jr.”

The event also drew small groups of protesters who picketed outside the hotel.

But there were plenty of other high-profile Republicans in the room, including state Sens. Steve Fitzgerald of Leavenworth and Caryn Tyson of Parker, both of whom are campaigning to succeed U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins in the 2nd District congressional seat.

Also spotted were Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita and Rep. Keith Esau, R-Olathe, who is campaigning to succeed Kobach in the Secretary of State’s office.