Trump Rallies in Virginia Days Before Election
Trump Holds VA Rally Days Before Election
On the weekend before election day, Trump made an unexpected stop in Salem.
(Trump speaks to the crowd in Salem, Virginia. | SOURCE: The Spectator)
Members of The Spectator received press passes from the Trump campaign to attend an unexpected rally in Salem, Virginia.
Virginia, where Harris has a 91% chance of winning, according to 538’s election modeling, hosted an unexpected rally for Trump with only three days before the election. With the notable exception of his Madison Square Garden event in New York City, Trump has campaigned almost exclusively in tightly contested swing states in recent weeks.
During the rally, Trump and prominent speakers such as Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares had a clear message for voters: Virginia is in play.
(Crowd at Trump’s Salem, Virginia Rally | SOURCE: The Spectator)
While recent Virginia polling favors Harris, many rally attendees saw Trump’s unanticipated presence in Virginia as proof that the campaign believes they have a chance at winning the blue-leaning state.
As a staffer for Congressman Griffith (R-VA) told The Spectator, “The fact that Trump is here means Virginia is in play.” He believed that the Trump campaign’s internal election modeling in Virginia could be showing promising signs.
High turnout in the rural areas that surround Salem will be essential for any chance Trump has to win the Commonwealth.
Others in the press pit expressed more skepticism, arguing that the “numbers are not there” for a Trump victory in Virginia. Some theorized that Trump was visiting Virginia with the goal of expressing confidence and had no real belief that Virginia could turn red.
(Media photographs a young girl wearing a garbage can costume. | SOURCE: The Spectator)
Trump’s 90-minute speech to the crowd of over 6,000 inside the Salem Civic Center focused on immigration, transgender athletes, and his economic policies. Echoing Republican President Ronald Reagan, Trump opened by asking attendees “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
When The Spectator asked attendees why they support Trump, they echoed Trump’s talking points from his speech. Economic woes and securing the border were, by far, the most common reasons.
Members of the Roanoke College Women’s Swim Team took the stage with Trump to advocate for preventing transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, calling the position of the Biden-Harris administration “anti-woman sex-based discrimination.”
(The inside of the rally prior to doors opening | SOURCE: The Spectator)
Hung Cao, the Virginia GOP nominee for the United States Senate, also spoke at the rally prior to Trump.
“We are not racists, bigots, fascists, deplorables or garbage. We are Americans,” Cao told the crowd.
Cao, who is facing incumbent Senator Tim Kane, is currently performing worse than Trump in Virginia polls. 538 shows Senator Kane as having a 97% chance of victory, compared to Harris’s 91% chance in Virginia. Cao’s hope for victory is convincing Trump-Kane voters to switch to voting entirely Republican and hope that Trump can overcome his unfavorable odds.
Harris has not visited Virginia since becoming the Democratic nominee. Regardless, her campaign believes that they will win the state by a comfortable margin.
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns increased ad spending in Virginia for the final week before the election, though spending in Virginia remains miniscule compared to major swing states.
“If you want to end this disaster, this horrible trip we're on — just get out and vote,” Trump told the crowd in Salem.
“We win Virginia, we win the whole thing without question.”
