Former President Trump said on Thursday that there is a “very good chance” he will win New York, which has not voted for a Republican for president in 40 years, this November.
Trump, Speaking with “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones, after a rally in the South Bronx, showed confidence that the historically blue state could advance in the polls.
Jones asked Trump why he chose to hold a rally in the heart of New York City, an area where President Biden blew him out of the water in 2020.
“Well, because I did really well with the vote. I love the people. They’re amazing, they’re energetic, they’re entrepreneurial, and they’re going to save New York, and we’re going to beat New York. And if we win in New York, the election is over,” Trump responded.
Jones pressed the former president, asking if he really thinks he will win the Empire State.
“I think we have a chance to win in New York. That hasn’t been done in many, many decades as a Republican,” Trump said. “I think we have a very good chance.”
In 2020, Biden won more than 60% of the vote in New York.
Trump’s rally was held in a park in one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods. Jones, who is black, told Trump that there were more people at the rally who “looked like me than you,” and later said that support for Trump is rising among black and Hispanic voters.
“I did things in office that no one else did, criminal justice reform. I carried out criminal justice reform at a level no one thought possible. And I did it largely for the black and Hispanic community, they were the ones who wanted this,” Trump responded.
New York isn’t the only traditionally blue state the former president has visited recently; he also made stops in Minnesota and New Jersey.
Some strategists said Trump’s rally in the Bronx had less to do with actually turning New York around in November and more about showing his strength by drawing crowds to an unexpected location.
The location was also conveniently close to Trump’s Manhattan court case for his ongoing trial to hide the money.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), who represents part of the Bronx, said Trump has a “legal version of an ankle bracelet” because it is difficult for him to leave the five boroughs with the trial underway. She said the rally has more to do with raising funds to pay her huge legal fees than anything else.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
