Get ready for Donald Trump's blue state extravaganza.
With less than three weeks until election day, Trump is expected to meet in firmly Democratic states, where he has virtually no chance of winning. It's an unorthodox strategy that campaign advisers say is designed to focus on areas where Democratic policies have failed, but which will keep him out of the swing states that will almost certainly decide the election.
Next month, Trump will have events in Colorado, California, Illinois and New York. President Joe Biden won these states by an average of 20 points in 2020, with his 13-point victory in Colorado by the closest margin. Colorado is the only state to vote for the Republican presidential candidate this millennium, supporting George W. Bush in 2004.
While each event will be held in a slightly different location, the most notable will be later this month at Madison Square Garden, a place where Trump has long said he wants to hold political rallies.
“Choosing high-impact environments means that the media cannot look away and refuse to cover the problems and solutions that President Trump is offering,” a senior Trump campaign adviser said of the strategy behind of the events of the late electoral cycle in Democratic States. “We live in a nationalized media environment, and national media outlets’ attention to these large-scale, out-of-the-ordinary scenarios increases the reach of their message across the country and penetrates every battleground state.”
Trump is highly unlikely to run in any of the Democratic states he is expected to visit in the coming weeks, but his campaign aims to highlight areas of the country where Democratic policies have failed.
“President Trump is ending the campaign by highlighting the problems the country faces as a result of the failed leadership of Harris and Biden and laying out his solutions to solve the problems they created,” the adviser added.
The decision to deviate from the traditional campaign playbook comes at a time when the race is almost certain to be decided in places like Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan, all within the margin of error . . Most public polls have the winner for both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“This doesn’t sound like a campaign to put their candidate in a critical vote or swing vote position — it sounds like a candidate who wants to make a statement about his optics and campaign vibes,” said longtime Republican operative Matthew Bartlett.
He called Trump “the most unconventional candidate in modern history,” meaning the improvised strategy could have some value.
“In 2016, Trump made the party much more rural and working class, now in 2024 he is trying to broaden his voter base along some cultural lines that could erode traditional Democratic voting blocs,” Bartlett said.
A second Trump adviser said that whenever Trump meets, he gets a huge audience online, including in swing states, and there is confidence in the campaign about his prospects, allowing them to take some risk in their estimates.
“We obviously remain optimistic about our prospects,” said the consultant.
Some Trump supporters have argued that moving into areas not traditionally visited by Republican presidential candidates could have a side effect of sorts, helping to energize down-voting Republicans in tough races. None of the states Trump is visiting have competitive Senate races, but there are some competitive House races in a year when most of that chamber will likely be decided by the slimmest of margins.
In California, House District 40 is represented by Rep. Yang Kim, and House District 41 is represented by Rep. Ken Calvert, both competing in the Los Angeles media market with Coachella, where Trump will hold his rally. .
In New York, Republican Mike D'Esposito won Nassau County's 4th District in 2022, but it is a seat that leans Democratic and Joe Biden won by 15 points in 2020. The seat flip played a big role in helping Republicans win the House majority in 2022.
“The fact that we are able to come out of the polls with President Trump's aggressive travel plans is a testament to a well-researched and effective campaign plan focused on uniting all Americans,” said Ed McMullen, a Trump donor who served as ambassador to Switzerland. Trump Administration.
“It is a well-planned effort to reach out and win important seats,” he added.
Bartlett, the veteran GOP consultant, agreed.
“Some of these vacancies could help boost the House race,” he said.
Entrepreneurship strategies in heavily blue areas of the country, however, are experiencing some early resistance.
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez, a Democrat, issued a statement criticizing Trump after he announced a rally in the city.
“Trump’s attacks on immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community and the most vulnerable among us are inconsistent with our community’s values,” she said. “He has consistently expressed the disdain for diversity that helps define Coachella.”
Hernandez added that the city was “proud” to welcome Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) when he runs for president as a Democrat in 2020.
Trump had long promised to stop in Aurora after rumors spread earlier this year that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the city, including taking over an apartment complex. Trump's statement puts Colorado's third-largest city in the national spotlight and makes it a key part of his anti-illegal immigration message, a central tenet of his campaign.
Trump denied the allegation to local police and Republican Mayor Mike Coffman, who called them “not correct.”
However, Trump's stop in Aurora will undoubtedly thrust the city back into the national immigration debate.
“Aurora, Colorado, has become a 'battleground' due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members,” the Trump campaign said in a statement announcing the event.
The stop in Chicago will feature Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, at an event at the Economic Club of Chicago, organized by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, holding a rally at Madison Square Garden in the predominantly Democratic neighborhood of Manhattan has long been on Trump's wish list. He has already spoken about the idea of gathering at the iconic location before this election cycle.
For the native New Yorker, if not politically, it is comfortably home territory.
A person familiar with the plan said the campaign has been working on rallies at Madison Square Garden since the primary season.
“With 27 days to go, nothing is accidental,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a GOP strategist who worked on businessman Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign. “It could be an optical game – crowd size. Or a psychological game – big crowd in democratic territory.”
“Or maybe there is one,” he added. “When I saw the rally in New York, I thought, 'Is New Jersey in the game?'”
