Trump is planning a rare Republican campaign stop in the Bronx to woo minority voters. Will this make any difference?

• Trump plans to headline a campaign event in the Bronx on Thursday.

• Trump has little chance of winning the New York district, but he saw a jump in support between 2016 and 2020.

• His campaign is working to attract more minority support by leaning on the economy.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to make an unusual stop for a Republican candidate later this week.

On Thursday, the New Yorker will headline a campaign event in the Bronx, one of New York City’s five boroughs and one of the bluest jurisdictions in the country.

The Bronx is so thoroughly Democratic that the borough is often an afterthought for Republican presidential candidates and even most Republican candidates statewide.

So why worry?

While it may not help him win the Bronx, it will serve as an opportunity for the former president to pursue his national strategy to win over minority voters.

Trump makes inroads with black and Latino voters

There is virtually no chance that Trump will actually win the Bronx in November. The neighborhood has supported every Democratic presidential candidate since 1928.

In 2020, Trump managed to improve his standing with Bronx voters, if only slightly, winning almost 30,000 more votes in the Bronx than in 2016. Meanwhile, the Democratic presidential vote share increased by only 2,000 votes.

Although Biden defeated Trump in the Bronx (355,374 votes to 67,740 votes) in 2020, the momentum for the former president was similar to gains he made with working-class minority voters – especially Latino voters – across the country that year.

It’s a political shift that in 2020 allowed Trump to easily win Florida, including the important Miami-Dade county, a heavily Latino-influenced jurisdiction that Democrats must hold by a substantial margin to win the state’s elections.

Although New York City is not Florida, Trump’s campaign event in the Bronx is part of a broader strategy to win over minority voters who have turned away from Democrats in recent years.

Trump’s pitch to minority voters

Trump’s expected appearance in the South Bronx will attempt to reinforce your advantage in economic research.

He will probably also, perhaps ironically, argue that he is the right candidate for reducing crime. from Trump hush money trial is unfolding in neighboring Manhattan, but New York City itself has seen a series of high profile crimes recently.

“President Trump will ease the financial pressures placed on families and restore law and order to New York!” the Trump campaign said when he announced the event in the Bronx.

With millions of Americans concerned about inflation and the cost of living, Trump wants to position himself as the candidate who can best address these issues, especially for minority voters.

Trump’s campaign is especially targeting Latino voters, who will be key in swing states like Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. The former president also seeks to win over black voters, especially black men.

It’s a strategy that the Biden campaign is working to combat. The president is also courting Black and Latino voters across the country, pointing to low unemployment during his time in office as well as the administration’s work on issues such as housing accessibility and infrastructure.

So while Trump won’t win the Bronx anytime soon, his appearance in a place voters wouldn’t normally expect to see him could be an effective showcase for his broader national strategy.

And while the former president is unlikely to win New York State this fall, he still hopes his stances on tax and immigration issues can give him an opening.

“We’re going to New York, we’re making a big play for New York,” he said during an appearance in Manhattan last month.

Read the original article at Business Insider