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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 carried out for a very long time. However we’re going to win New York. And that is the primary time in lots of, a few years {that a} Republican can truthfully say it. And we will do it,” Trump vowed.
“We have now 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 folks packed into an area in Nassau County, a suburban New York Metropolis Republican stronghold.
Trump made an identical pledge 4 years in the past earlier than dropping his native state to President Biden by over 23 factors. And polling strongly means that Trump has no severe probability of carrying New York in his 2024 election showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, headlines a rally on the Nassau Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York on Sept. 18, 2024 (Fox Information – Julia Bonavita )
It has been 40 years since a Republican nominee has carried New York state in a presidential election.
You need to 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’ll scale back your taxes, scale back your crime, and scale back your ranges of stress.”
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And the previous president pledged that in a second Trump time period, “I’ll formally make the Floor Zero web site on the World Commerce Middle a nationwide monument protected and maintained by the US authorities.”
Wednesday’s rally was Trump’s second massive marketing campaign occasion this 12 months within the Empire State, after drawing an enormous crowd within the New York Metropolis borough of the Bronx in Might.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump converse throughout a marketing campaign rally within the south Bronx, in New York Metropolis, on Thursday, Might, 23. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
Whereas there was some chatter of New York doubtlessly being in play as President Biden’s ballot numbers began cratering following his disastrous late-June debate efficiency in opposition to Trump, the dialog was fleeting and rapidly 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 treasured commodity — did Trump maintain a marketing campaign rally simply outdoors of New York Metropolis?
“Fairly clearly, New York is the most important media hub within the nation,” Trump marketing campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh advised Fox Information on the eve of the rally.
Murtaugh emphasised that “when [Trump] delivers a message there, it’s piped straight into properties in each market in each battleground state. Probably the most invaluable commodity we’ve is President Trump’s time. And that occasion is making environment friendly use of it.”
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Whereas Trump is extraordinarily unlikely to hold New York within the White Home race, the rally might 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. A variety of them have 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 vitally clear – maybe New York shouldn’t be a battleground state, however what there’s – is there is a battleground proper right here on Lengthy Island. And when Trump wins on Election Night time, he’s going to wish a Home majority and that Home majority runs by means of the Empire State.”
Trump’s rally was his first since this previous weekend’s obvious second assassination try in opposition to 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 dying haven’t damaged my will,” he emphasised. “They’ve actually given me a a lot greater and stronger mission. They’ve solely hardened my resolve to make use of my time on Earth to make America nice once more for all People, to place America first.”
And Trump mentioned that “God has now spared my life — it will need to have been God, thanks — not as soon as however twice.”
Fox Information’ Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report
Get the newest updates from the 2024 marketing campaign path, unique interviews and extra at our Fox Information Digital election hub.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based mostly in New Hampshire.
