WASHINGTON -- For a few hours on Friday, New Jersey, not Washington, D.C., will be the center of the U.S. government.

Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be in the Garden State at the same time.

Trump is in the midst of a 12-day stay at his Bedminster golf club while renovations are being made to the White House.

Pence, meanwhile, will head to the Morristown area for a closed-door fundraiser on behalf of Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris, running to succeed retiring Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., in Congress.

"It's just an alignment of the planets more than any thing real significant," said Ben Dworkin, director of Rowan University's Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship. "It's wonderful that they get to see our beautiful state and I'm sure someone will put up a plaque to commemorate it down the road."

"We don't get a 2-for-1 deal very often," said Matthew Hale, a professor of political science at Seton Hall University.

If you're hoping for a glimpse of either man, however, you're out of luck. Neither has any public activities.

The minimum donation to see Pence at Webber's fundraiser is $1000 and those giving at least $25,000 to the campaign and Republican Party committees got a "VIP roundtable" and a photo with the vice president.

"The fact that Pence is raising money for what has has almost always been a Republican district reveals how competitive 2018 is," Dworkin said. "They have to bring out the big guns to defend a district that they never have had to defend."

Through June 30, Webber raised just $574,410 compared with $4.2 million taken by Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor. The two Washington-based publications that track congressional races, the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections, give Sherrill an edge.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.