Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his reelection campaign is planning to aggressively expand the number of states that are in play for the 2024 election—including New York and New Jersey.
“One of the other things I’m going to do—and I may be foolish in doing it—is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” President Trump told the outlet.
He plans to do rallies in some of those states, according to the interview, even suggesting that he might hold a rally of sorts at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
“I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them,” President Trump said. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.” The former president won Pennsylvania during the 2016 election.
“But we’re going to do these other states too, and it will be a heavy move,” the former president said. “I may rent Madison Square Garden and that’s the belly of the beast, right?”
In New York, which last had a Republican governor in the mid-2000s, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) performed relatively well during the 2022 midterm elections that saw Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul reelected. A similar scenario unfolded in 2021 in New Jersey, although New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, was able to beat back his GOP challenger, Jack Ciattarelli.
“We have some very good people there,” President Trump, a native of Queens, told the news outlet, referring to New York. “So, I believe we have a chance to win New York. I believe we have a chance to win New Jersey.”
Referring to the 2022 election, he said: “If you look at Lee, he lost by a pretty close race. But it’s 100 times worse now than it was two years ago. Now, you have people—you have migrants living on Madison Avenue.”
“You can’t get into a hospital. You can’t get into a school. You go to a public school and half the kids are sitting there and have no idea what the teacher is saying. You can’t get into these schools,” President Trump said. “I think it’s really bad and I think the people in New York and New Jersey and a lot of these states are—it would have been semi-unthinkable but I think these are states that can be won.”
After winning the presidency in 2016, the former commander-in-chief has not lived in New York. After leaving the White House, he has remained either at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida or sometimes at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“It’s a different place from when I left,” President Trump said of New York City, adding that the city ”suffered” under the De Blasio administration.
“He was a horrible mayor. He was the worst mayor in the history of New York ... now, you look at it and what they’ve done to that beautiful place is just horrible,” he added. “So, I think I have a chance there. I will spend time that I would normally not be working on New York and New Jersey and other places.”
Meanwhile, the last time a Republican candidate won New Jersey was when Republican George H.W. Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988 in an electoral landslide. In Virginia, the state was reliably Republican until Democrat Barack Obama won in 2008. Since then, the state has gone for Democrats in presidential elections, including in 2016 and 2020.
As for the Republican primary, polls have shown that the former president has a significant lead over the field, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. That includes Iowa, a crucial nominating state that will hold the Iowa caucuses this month.
