Among other claims, Trump promised in Las Vegas on Thursday that he would win Colorado. Polls in Colorado over the past month have shown Trump losing between 10 and 17 percentage points. (C-SPAN screenshot)
With votes not yet tabulated, former President Donald Trump has already declared he had a significant lead in Nevada and claimed he was ahead in states that are “normally never in play,” including New Hampshire, during a campaign stop in Southern Nevada Thursday evening.
Trump spoke at the UNLV Thomas & Mack Center a day after his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, also spoke campaigned in the state.
Numerous polls indicate that the difference in support between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is well within the margin of error — the race is tied — in Nevada and other battleground states.
But on Thursday in Las Vegas, Trump said “we are leading by a wide margin in Nevada,” along with all the other battleground states.
He also claimed that “other states, big states are all in play” and vowed to win solidly blue Colorado after the state tried to disqualify him from the primary ballot. The United States Supreme Court reversed the decision.
Polls in Colorado over the past month have shown Harris leading Trump by 10 to 17 percentage points.
Trump has previously discredited early voting and made false claims about mail-in ballots leading to voter fraud. But on Thursday, he encouraged the crowd to vote early to ensure they not only win, but with a significant turnout.
“If we’re way ahead, they won’t think about cheating as much,” Trump said, drawing on baseless accusations of election fraud. “We must make this election honorable and fair and we will do that.”
Trump, who won the presidency in 2016 even though he lost the popular vote, also falsely claimed he won more support in that cycle and earned “millions and millions of votes” that weren’t counted.
Despite numerous investigations and dozens of lawsuits, evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election has never been found.
Much of Thursday’s speech reiterated the same proposals Trump had talked about in recent months, including eliminating taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security. The Trump campaign has provided few details about the scope of these proposals, their implementation, or how they would be paid for, other than to suggest that massive tariffs he plans to impose on foreign imports will provide the federal government with huge windfalls deliver.
Several independent analysts and economists have warned that Trump’s proposed tariffs would reignite inflation and cause prices to rise.
Trump also briefly discussed plans Thursday to open up housing on federal land as a way to develop more housing amid a growing affordability crisis. Gov. Joe Lombardo has advocated for the federal government to open more land.
“Your governor is doing a great job,” Trump said. “We thank him very much. Joe Lombardo is doing very well.”
Lombardo was not at the meeting and has not appeared at any Trump campaign events this year.
Trump also told his supporters to vote for Sam Brown, an Army veteran who is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen.
“That man is a hero and he has given up so much,” he said, pointing out Brown in the audience.
Trump then invited not Brown, but Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, to the stage. Ramaswamy called 2024 “our 1776” and compared Trump to George Washington in an earlier speech at the event.
Most of his nearly 90-minute speech repeated much of the same anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump offered during previous campaign visits to Nevada this year, including his most recent Rally in Las Vegas in September. On Thursday, Trump characterized the United States as “an occupied territory” because of undocumented immigrants and reiterated one of his key campaign promises: mass deportations.
“Immediately upon taking the oath of office, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history,” he said. “I will save every city that has been invaded and conquered. We have many cities that are not infected, but will be petrified. We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty animals in prison.”
Trump claimed that 29,000 people attended Thursday’s event at the Thomas & Mack Center, with another 29,000 people outside. However, Turning point actionthe group organizing the event said 12,500 people attended. During his remarks, Trump said his campaign event was closed McDonald’s Earlier this week, where Trump donned an apron and pretended to work at the drive-thru for about twenty minutes to serve a few pre-screened people, there were also 29,000 people standing outside.
