Former President Donald Trump recently vowed to expand the number of battleground states if he wins this year’s upcoming presidential election. Speaking to Breitbart News, Trump explained that he seeks to compete against Democrats in states such as Virginia, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Minnesota.
The leading Republican presidential candidate indicated that, through setting up rallies in these historically blue states, he intends to increase his chances against Democrats. “One of the other things I’m going to do — and I may be foolish in doing it — is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump said in during an interview.
Trump gave an example of possibly renting out Madison Square Garden to host a rally in the middle of “the belly of the best” in Manhattan. “But we’re going to do these other states too, and it will be a heavy move. I may rent Madison Square Garden and that’s the belly of the beast, right?”
While these states may lean primarily Democrat, the former president explained that there are still many Republicans who could turn out. Trump gave the example of New York’s 2022 GOP Gubernatorial nominee, Lee Zeldin, who performed above expectations against Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul. The former president indicated that as conditions have worsened in New York since then, there could be more of an appetite for Republican politicians.
Trump said, “We have some very good people there. So, I believe we have a chance to win New York. I believe we have a chance to win New Jersey. If you look at Lee, he lost by a pretty close race. But it’s 100 times worse now than it was two years ago. Now, you have people—you have migrants living on Madison Avenue.”
You can’t get into a hospital. You can’t get into a school. You go to a public school and half the kids are sitting there and have no idea what the teacher is saying. You can’t get into these schools. I think it’s really bad and I think the people in New York and New Jersey and a lot of these states are—it would have been semi-unthinkable but I think these are states that can be won,” Trump continued, noting it is a “different place” from when he left.
Trump continued explaining the damage done to New York City by Democratic politicians, suggesting that he has a “chance” because of this. However, Trump noted during the interview that he obviously would invest less time and resources into these predominantly blue states than more critical battleground states.
“I left New York 8 years ago. We had already suffered from De Blasio a little bit. But it hadn’t been long enough. He was a horrible mayor. He was the worst mayor in the history of New York. We were suffering from De Blasio a little bit but it was eight years ago when I left, and when I left it was the hottest thing. Now, you look at it and what they’ve done to that beautiful place is just horrible. So, I think I have a chance there. I will spend time that I would normally not be working on New York and New Jersey and other places,” he added.
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