UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Standing in entrance of a packed area on New York’s Lengthy Island, former President Donald Trump predicted victory in November within the reliably blue state.
“It hasn’t been done for a long time. But we are going to win New York. And that’s the first time in many, many years that a Republican can honestly say it. And we’re going to do it,” Trump vowed.
“We have to do it. We do it, and the election nationwide is over,” Trump added as he spoke to what his marketing campaign mentioned was a capability crowd of roughly 16,000 individuals packed into an area in Nassau County, a suburban New York Metropolis Republican stronghold.
Trump made an analogous pledge 4 years in the past earlier than shedding his native state to President Biden by over 23 factors. And polling strongly means that Trump has no critical likelihood of carrying New York in his 2024 election showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.
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It’s been 40 years since a Republican nominee has carried New York state in a presidential election.
You must return to President Ronald Reagan, who gained the state as a part of his landslide re-election victory in 1984.
Trump promised New Yorkers that if he wins again the White Home, “I’m going to reduce your taxes, reduce your crime, and reduce your levels of stress.”
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And the previous president pledged that in a second Trump time period, “I will officially make the Ground Zero site at the World Trade Center a national monument protected and maintained by the United States government.”
Wednesday’s rally was Trump’s second giant marketing campaign occasion this 12 months within the Empire State, after drawing a giant crowd within the New York Metropolis borough of the Bronx in Might.
Whereas there was some chatter of New York probably being in play as President Biden’s ballot numbers began cratering following his disastrous late-June debate efficiency towards Trump, the dialog was fleeting and shortly dissipated when Harris changed Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket two months in the past.
So why — with lower than 50 days to go till Election Day and time turning into a really valuable commodity — did Trump maintain a marketing campaign rally simply outdoors of New York Metropolis?
“Quite clearly, New York is the biggest media hub in the country,” Trump marketing campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh instructed Fox Information on the eve of the rally.
Murtaugh emphasised that “when [Trump] delivers a message there, it’s piped directly into homes in every market in every battleground state. The most valuable commodity we have is President Trump’s time. And that event is making efficient use of it.”
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Whereas Trump is extraordinarily unlikely to hold New York within the White Home race, the rally could assist Republicans down-ballot, as they attempt to maintain on to their Home of Representatives majority in November’s elections.
A number of GOP-controlled Home seats in New York state are thought-about susceptible this 12 months, together with one held by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Lengthy Island. Various them had been on the rally and spoke forward of Trump. And the previous president gave the Home Republicans and congressional candidates shoutouts as he addressed the group.
D’Esposito, in an interview with Fox Information’ Bryan Ilenas, mentioned “it is very clear – perhaps New York is not a battleground state, but what there is – is there’s a battleground right here on Long Island. And when Trump wins on Election Night, he is going to need a House majority and that House majority runs through the Empire State.”
Trump’s rally was his first since this previous weekend’s obvious second assassination try towards the previous president, and the 78-year-old GOP nominee insisted that the incidents had “hardened my resolve.”
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“These encounters with death have not broken my will,” he emphasised. “They have really given me a much bigger and stronger mission. They’ve only hardened my resolve to use my time on Earth to make America great again for all Americans, to put America first.”
And Trump mentioned that “God has now spared my life — it must have been God, thank you — not once but twice.”
Fox Information’ Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report