Speculation is growing over former president’s plans to hold a rally in a ‘blue state’ over a swing state with the election only weeks away.
COACHELLA, Calif.—Former President Donald Trump is holding a rare Golden State rally—and some people are wondering why.
When Trump’s campaign announced Oct. 7, just five days ahead of the event, that a rally was set for Saturday, Oct. 12 in Coachella, it caused a stir online.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, posted a link to free tickets to the event at Coachella’s Calhoun Ranch with the notation, “This is happening!!!”
His post didn’t indicate why Trump chose that site in the Southern California desert town that was put on the map by its popular outdoor Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. And Miller didn’t respond to an Epoch Times request seeking information.
Some commenters on Miller’s X post wrote that it seemed bold for the Republican presidential nominee to campaign in the Democrat-dominant home state of his political opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Others said they thought Trump might be wasting his time rallying in California when he could instead remain focused on tossup states. Analysts view seven states as keys to unlocking an Electoral College victory in the Nov. 5 election. Those states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
On Friday, Oct. 11, Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Reno, Nevada, at 5:30 p.m.
The remaining 43 U.S. states have consistently voted for one of the major political parties, and experts believe those states are unlikely to swing the other way.
Nevertheless, Trump has campaigned in several Democrat-dominated states that appear unlikely to fall into his column, including New York and New Jersey.
Likewise, Trump’s Democratic opponents resoundingly beat him in California in the two past elections. The state is prized for its mother lode of 55 electoral votes—20 percent of the total 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
But Coachella is known for its predominantly Hispanic population—a voting bloc that has generally voted for Democrat candidates but has increasingly shifted toward Republicans, including Trump, recent polls say. Nearly 98 percent of Coachella’s roughly 44,000 residents are Hispanic, the U.S. Census says.
In a news release, the Trump campaign indicated that the former president would be contrasting his economic policies with Harris’s during his Coachella speech.
By Janice Hisle and Brad Jones
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