Trump to open 2024 bids at event in early voting states

former president donald trump The 2024 White House candidacy is set to kick off Saturday with a visit to two early voting states, the first campaign event since I ran for office more than two months ago.

Trump to be keynote speaker new hampshire Annual convention of the Republican Party before moving to Columbia, South Carolina. He will announce his leadership team in the state legislature. The state has held two of his party’s first three nomination contests, giving him enormous power in choosing candidates.

Trump and his allies hope the event will prove to be a show of support for the former president. It has reached out to political operatives and elected officials to secure support for Trump’s re-election at a critical time when it seems

Stephen Stepanek, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and co-chairman of the Trump campaign in New Hampshire in 2016, said: “The shooting season has begun.

Trump has been declared the only presidential candidate for 2024, but there are many potential challengers, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina governor. Nikki Haleyis widely expected to serve as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations and launch a campaign in the coming months.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham and several members of state legislative delegations are expected to attend Saturday’s event. But Trump’s team has struggled to garner support from state legislators, even those who had staunchly supported him in previous elections.

Some say it’s too early to show support that it’s been over a year since the first round of voting, or that they’re waiting to see who else will be in the race. Others say it’s time for the party to move beyond Trump to a new generation of leadership.

Republican Rep. RJ May, vice chair of the House Liberal caucuses in South Carolina, said he would not attend Trump’s event because he was focused on the legislative battle between the Liberal and Republican caucuses. He has shown he is open to other Republican candidates in the 2024 election.

“I think we’re going to have a very strong candidate here in South Carolina,” said May, who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. “I’d rather have Donald Trump than Joe Biden.” I will support you 100%,” he added.

Dave Wilson, president of the Palmetto Family, a conservative Christian nonprofit, said some conservative voters were universally opposed to abortion, and Republicans would be key party leaders in the 2022 midterm elections. He said he may be concerned about Trump’s recent comments about sacrificing his victory.

Wilson of the group, who hosted Pence in his 2021 speech, said, “It’s giving some people in the conservative ranks of the Republican Party a pause as to whether the process itself needs to be resolved. Your vote.” Nothing is taken for granted.”

Wilson acknowledged that Trump “did some phenomenal things during his presidency,” including securing a majority on the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, which Republican voters in South Carolina are “just now.” “We may be looking for a candidate who can be a standard-bearer to continue construction without having to do so,” he said. Over the next few decades, conservatism will gain momentum across America. ”

But Jerry McDaniel, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and will attend Saturday’s event, rejected the idea that voters were ready to move on from the former president.

“Some media outlets keep saying he’s falling out of favor. No, he’s not,” she said.

South Carolina events in government buildings surrounded by elected officials are, in some ways, outside the brand of former reality TV stars who have typically endorsed Megarally and sought to foster an image of the outsider. But in reality, Trump is a former president trying to take back the White House by contrasting his tenure with his current administration.

Meetings are expensive. Trump, a notorious thrifty man, added a new financial challenge when he decided to launch his campaign in November. As such, he is subject to strict funding regulations and is barred from using a Leadership PAC with sufficient funds to pay for such events that could cost millions of dollars.

Officials expect Trump to speak in the second-floor lobby of the State Capitol, the gorgeous ceremonial area between the House and Senate.

The venue celebrates Haley’s signing of a bill to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds in 2015 and Governor Henry McMaster’s 2021 law banning abortions after age 6 in the state. has played host to some of South Carolina’s most notable political news moments, including signing the weeks of pregnancy. The state Supreme Court recently ruled that abortion laws are unconstitutional, and McMaster vowed to seek a new trial.

Trump’s early campaign was already underway, especially when he had dinner with Holocaust-denier white supremacist Nick Fuentes and the former Kanye West, who made a string of anti-Semitic comments. Trump has also been widely derided for selling a series of digital trading cards depicting him as a superhero, cowboy, astronaut, and more.

At the same time, he is subject to a series of criminal investigations. This included an investigation into the discovery of hundreds of documents marked as classified at his Maralago club and whether he obstructed justice by refusing to return them. increase. as state and federal investigations into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Still, Trump remains the only candidate announced for 2024, and early polls show him to be the favorite to win the party’s nomination.

Stepanek, who needs to remain neutral as leader of New Hampshire, dismissed the importance of Trump’s slow start.

In New Hampshire, he said there was “a lot of anticipation and excitement” about Trump’s re-election. He said Trump’s die-hard supporters continue to support him.

“There were a lot of people who weren’t with him in ’15, ’16 and then became Trumpers and then stopped being Trumpers,” Stepanek said. “But the people who supported him in New Hampshire and propelled him to victory in the 2016 New Hampshire primary are still there, waiting for the president.”

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Colvin reported from New York.