Prepare for Donald Trump’s blue state extravaganza.
With less than four weeks until Election Day, Trump will hold rallies in staunchly 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 it will also keep him away from the small handful of swing states that will almost certainly determine the election.
Over the next month, the former president has events planned in Colorado, California, Illinois and New York. President Joe Biden won those states in 2020 by an average of 20 points, with his victory in Colorado being the largest margin at 13 points. Colorado is the only one of those states to have voted for a Republican candidate for president this millennium, having supported George W. Bush in 2004.
While each event will take place in slightly different locations, the most notable will take place later this month at Madison Square Garden, a place where Trump has long said he wanted to hold a political rally.
“Choosing high-impact environments ensures that the media cannot look away and refuse to report on the problems and the solutions that President Trump is offering,” a senior Trump campaign adviser said of the strategy behind the events of the late election cycle in Democratic states. “We live in a nationalized media environment and the national media’s attention to these large-scale, outside-the-norm settings extends the reach of its message across the country and penetrates every battleground state.”
“President Trump closes the campaign highlighting the problems the country faces as a result of the failed leadership of Harris and Biden, and lays out his solutions to solve the problems they have created,” the adviser added.
The decision to deviate from the traditional campaign playbook comes at a time when the race will almost certainly be decided in places like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan, places that are within the margin of error in most public polls. and is considered winnable for both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“This doesn’t look like a campaign putting its candidate in high-critical or swing-vote locations — it looks more like a candidate wanting his campaign to stage rallies for optics and atmosphere,” said Matthew Bartlett, a longtime Republican colleague.
He called Trump the “most unorthodox candidate in modern history,” meaning the off-script strategy could have some value.
“In 2016, Trump realigned the party to become much more of a rural and working-class party, now in 2024 he is trying to expand his voting base along certain cultural lines that could eat away at traditional Democratic voting blocs,” Bartlett said.
A second Trump adviser said that wherever Trump holds rallies, he gets a huge amount of online viewers, including in swing states, and that there is confidence within the campaign about their chances, which they estimate poses some risk.
“We are certainly optimistic about our prospects,” the advisor said.
Some Trump supporters argued that entering areas of the country traditionally not visited by Republican presidential candidates could have a kind of tail effect, giving Republicans a boost in tough races. None of the states Trump is visiting have a competitive Senate race, but there are a handful of competitive races in the House of Representatives in a year when that chamber’s majority will likely be decided by a razor-thin margin.
In California, House District 40 is represented by Republican Young Kim, and House District 41 is represented by Republican Ken Calvert, both of whom are running in contested races in the Los Angeles media market, along with Coachella, where Trump will hold his rally. .
In New York, Rep. Mike D’Esposito won Nassau County’s 4th District in 2022, but it is a seat that leans Democratic and was won by Joe Biden in 2020 by 15 points. Flipping the seat played a major role in helping Republicans win the seat. Chamber majority in 2022.
“The fact that President Trump’s aggressive travel plan has allowed us to gain voting seats is a testament to the well-orchestrated and effective campaign plan that focuses on uniting all Americans,” said Ed McMullen, a Trump donor who served as ambassador during the election served in Switzerland. Trump administration.
“It is a well-planned attempt to win important seats,” he added.
Bartlett, the veteran GOP consultant, agreed.
“Some of these spots could impact House races,” he said.
However, the strategy of moving to strongly blue areas of the country is being counterbalanced as a preventive measure.
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez, a Democrat, issued a statement criticizing Trump after announcing he would hold a rally in the city.
“Trump’s attacks on immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community and the most vulnerable among us do not align with the values of our community,” he said. “He has consistently expressed disdain for the kind of diversity that helps define Coachella.”
Hernandez added that the city was “proud” to welcome Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., when he ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat.
The stop in Aurora had long been promised by Trump after he spread debunked rumors earlier this year about Venezuelan gangs overrunning the city, including taking over an apartment complex. Trump’s claims put Colorado’s third-largest city in the national spotlight and made it a key part of his anti-illegal immigration message, which is a central tenet of his campaign.
Trump’s claims have been refuted by local police and Republican Mayor Mike Coffman, who called them “not accurate.”
Still, Trump’s stop in Aurora will undoubtedly put the city back in the national immigration debate.
“Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement announcing the event.
During the Chicago stop, both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, will attend an event hosted by Bloomberg at the Economic Club of Chicago.
Meanwhile, holding a rally at Madison Square Garden, in the predominantly Democratic borough of Manhattan, has long been on Trump’s wish list. He has previously discussed the idea of a rally at the iconic location, including earlier this election cycle.
For the native New Yorker, it’s comfortably home, even if not politically.
A person familiar with the planning said the campaign had been working on a Garden rally since the primary season.
“With 27 days to go, nothing is unintentional,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a Republican strategist who worked on businessman Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign. “Maybe it’s an optical game — the size of the crowd. Or a psychological game – large crowds on democratic grounds.’
“Or maybe there is one there,” she added. “When I saw the rally in New York, I thought, ‘Is New Jersey in play?'”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
