CNN
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Former President Donald Trump will maintain a beachfront rally on the Jersey Shore on Saturday, returning to the marketing campaign path after an explosive week of testimony in his hush cash trial in New York.
The occasion in Wildwood, situated in South New Jersey, marks Trump’s third marketing campaign rally for the reason that begin of his trial 4 weeks in the past. In contrast to Michigan and Wisconsin, the place Trump held rallies final week, New Jersey just isn’t thought-about a battleground state. Trump misplaced the Backyard State by about 16 factors to President Joe Biden in 2020.
Nevertheless, Wildwood, a part of Cape Could County, is in a New Jersey district that’s a lot friendlier to Republicans. Trump received the county in 2020 with 57.5% of the vote, and 58.4% in 2016.
In interviews with CNN, some Republicans questioned the choice by the marketing campaign to spend one in every of Trump’s restricted days off from court docket campaigning in a state that has voted Democratic within the final seven straight presidential elections.
However a Trump marketing campaign official mentioned the marketing campaign sees a possibility to faucet into the close by media market within the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania and get native TV protection in Philadelphia. They’re additionally anticipating the group to incorporate attendees from town and suburbs of Philadelphia, which is about an hour and a half drive from Wildwood.
Saturday received’t be Trump’s first time campaigning within the metropolis. In January 2020, Trump held a rally in Wildwood in an effort to help town’s congressman, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who shocked his Home colleagues in 2019 when he switched his social gathering affiliation from Democrat to Republican throughout Trump’s first impeachment trial and pledged his “timeless help” to the then-president.
Within the years since, Trump has maintained a great relationship with Van Drew and continues to reward his determination to modify events, one thing the previous president usually characterizes for instance of Democrats being fed up with the left, in line with sources aware of the feedback.
Van Drew, who’s main the Trump marketing campaign’s efforts within the state, is slated to talk on the rally on Saturday and has been concerned within the planning of the occasion, the Trump marketing campaign official mentioned. The official added that the marketing campaign is trying to recapture the power and enthusiasm they noticed throughout Trump’s 2020 rally there.
Regardless of Trump and his marketing campaign’s insistence that the previous president would make the most of each second he wasn’t tied to his trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has not taken full benefit of his off days from court docket to marketing campaign. As a substitute, he’s spent a lot of his free time fundraising, together with talking at a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago membership throughout the Republican Nationwide Committee’s annual retreat final weekend and enjoying golf at his Bedminster membership on a latest Wednesday.
Some folks near Trump have acknowledged that they’re shocked by the dearth of conventional campaigning on the sidelines of the trial, particularly given that the final election is lower than six months away. Additionally they raised questions concerning the marketing campaign selecting to spend one in every of his weekends away from court docket in New Jersey, relatively than one of many extra essential 2024 battlegrounds.
“It’s an odd alternative,” one of many folks mentioned. “However that is Trump being Trump. He loves New Jersey and Atlantic Metropolis.”
Republican strategist Matt Gorman, a former senior adviser to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential marketing campaign, instructed CNN the proximity of Wildwood to his trial in Manhattan, in addition to his golf membership in Bedminster, doubtless additionally performed an element.
“It’s an opportunity for him to be in Trump Nation that’s near Bedminster and possibly lots cheaper than having to fly and arrange an occasion in a swing state,” Gorman mentioned.