Former President Donald Trump will hold a beachfront rally on the Jersey Shore on Saturday, returning to the campaign trail after an explosive week of testimony in his hush money trial in New York.
The event in Wildwood, located in South New Jersey, marks Trump’s third campaign rally since the start of his trial four weeks ago. Unlike Michigan and Wisconsin, where Trump held rallies last week, New Jersey is not considered a battleground state. Trump lost the Garden State by about 16 points to President Joe Biden in 2020.
However, Wildwood, part of Cape May County, is in a New Jersey district that is much friendlier to Republicans. Trump won the county in 2020 with 57.5% of the vote, and 58.4% in 2016.
In interviews with CNN, some Republicans questioned the decision by the campaign to spend one of Trump’s limited days off from court campaigning in a state that has voted Democratic in the last seven straight presidential elections.
But a Trump campaign official said the campaign sees an opportunity to tap into the nearby media market in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania and get local TV coverage in Philadelphia. They are also expecting the crowd to include attendees from the city and suburbs of Philadelphia, which is about an hour and a half drive from Wildwood.
Saturday won’t be Trump’s first time campaigning in the city. In January 2020, Trump held a rally in Wildwood in an effort to support the city’s congressman, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who shocked his House colleagues in 2019 when he switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican during Trump’s first impeachment trial and pledged his “undying support” to the then-president.
In the years since, Trump has maintained a good relationship with Van Drew and continues to praise his decision to switch parties, something the former president often characterizes as an example of Democrats being fed up with the left, according to sources familiar with the comments.
Van Drew, who is leading the Trump campaign’s efforts in the state, is slated to speak at the rally on Saturday and has been involved in the planning of the event, the Trump campaign official said. The official added that the campaign is looking to recapture the energy and enthusiasm they saw during Trump’s 2020 rally there.
Despite Trump and his campaign’s insistence that the former president would take advantage of every second he wasn’t tied to his trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has not taken full advantage of his off days from court to campaign. Instead, he’s spent much of his free time fundraising, including speaking at a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club during the Republican National Committee’s annual retreat last weekend and playing golf at his Bedminster club on a recent Wednesday.
Some people close to Trump have acknowledged that they are surprised by the dearth of traditional campaigning on the sidelines of the trial, especially given that the general election is less than six months away. They also raised questions about the campaign choosing to spend one of his weekends away from court in New Jersey, rather than one of the more crucial 2024 battlegrounds.
“It’s an odd choice,” one of the people said. “But this is Trump being Trump. He loves New Jersey and Atlantic City.”
Republican strategist Matt Gorman, a former senior adviser to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign, told CNN the proximity of Wildwood to his trial in Manhattan, as well as his golf club in Bedminster, likely also played a factor.
“It’s a chance for him to be in Trump Country that’s close to Bedminster and probably a lot cheaper than having to fly and set up an event in a swing state,” Gorman said.
