LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is hiring extra medics, loading up on fans and water bottles and allowing supporters to carry umbrellas to an outdoor rally Sunday in Las Vegas, where temperatures are expected to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit . 37.8 degrees Celsius).
Trump returns to Nevada, one of the key battlegrounds in November’s elections, for his second rally since he was found guilty in a hush-money scandal. The unprecedented conviction of a former president has undermined Trump’s fundraising and boosted his supporters, but it remains to be seen whether it will sway swing voters.
Temperatures in the Southwest have cooled since reaching an all-time high late last week, but remain above normal for this time of year and are expected to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) by the time Trump is scheduled to starts speaking around noon. His rally takes place in a park with little shade next to the airport.
Campaign organizers say they will have plenty of water bottles to hand out to attendees and cooling tents will be placed throughout the venue. Misting fans are distributed.
The campaign has ensured that additional ambulance services can be on site in the event of an emergency. The United States Secret Service will make an exception to allow people to bring personal water bottles and umbrellas.
At a Trump rally in Arizona on Thursday, Phoenix police said 11 people were transported to hospitals, treated and released for heat exhaustion. Many Trump supporters waited in line for hours, and some were unable to enter until the venue was full. The temperature that day reached a record 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius).
Trump’s rally in Nevada, his third in the state this year, comes at the end of a Western swing involving several high-dollar fundraisers where he was expected to rake in millions of dollars.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won Nevada in 2016, as did President Joe Biden in 2020, but Nevada was the only state where Trump did better against Biden than Clinton. During the 2022 midterm elections, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, was the only incumbent governor not to win re-election.
Trump hopes his strength among working-class voters and growing interest from Latinos will push him to victory in the state.
