Newz(AP) — President Donald Trump is continuing his midterm campaign swing with a rally in deep red Alabama Friday, returning to the place where he drew his first mega crowd.Trump will be stumping for Republican candidates, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is running against former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones for Alabama governor, and state Rep.
Rhett Marques, who is seeking to flip Alabama’s newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District. The rally at the University of South Alabama will also give Trump the chance to be surrounded by some of his most loyal supporters as he confronts dismal poll numbers and growing pessimism from his party about their chances of holding onto the House and Senate in November.“I'm going because you have to thank these states that are with you 1,000% and I haven't been there in a while and I want to just thank 'em,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House Thursday. “I go there because they want to see me there.”A nostalgic venueTrump held his first mega-rally in Mobile more than a decade ago, drawing what some estimated to be 30,000 people to a college football stadium.
The huge crowd made clear that Trump was more than a celebrity candidate and had the potential to make waves in the 2016 primary.On Friday, supporters began lining up early on a hot, humid Alabama day for the chance to hear the president speak.They included Patrick Burch, 27, who drove from Huntsville, Alabama, “to support the country.” He said he thinks Trump's second term is “going a lot better than his first” and said concerns about the rising cost of living didn't bother him.“The way I see it, at the end of the day, if I gotta pay a little more, a couple dollars extra here and there in order for my kids to be safe in the future and to make sure Iran isn’t nuclear or anything like that, then I’m ok with that,” he said. “It don’t hurt me one bit.”The rally also drew protesters, including Elijah Splitt, 22, a graduate student at the school who said he was a member of the Revolutionary Party for Socialism and Liberation.“We have a bunch of students who are very upset, who are very agitated, who are angry that the university administration would allow the Republicans to hold their midterm rally here and to also invite the president of the United States,” he said, calling the rally “a last-ditch effort” by the president to “boost morale amongst … (AP) — President Donald Trump will continue his midterm campaign swing with a rally in deep red Alabama Friday, returning to the place where he drew his first mega crowd.
Trump will be stumping for Republican candidates, including Sen. The rally will also give Trump the chance to be surrounded by some of his most loyal supporters as he confronts dismal poll numbers and growing pessimism from his party about their chances of holding onto the House and Senate in November. “I’m going because you have to thank these states that are with you 1,000% and I haven’t been there in a while and I want to just thank ’em,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House Thursday.
“I go there because they want to see me there.” Trump held his first mega-rally in Mobile more than a decade ago, drawing what some estimated to be 30,000 people to a college football stadium. Trump is planning an aggressive travel schedule between now and November, with trips to the most competitive battlegrounds including Ohio and Texas. But his decision to start his tour in deep red states that have garnered relatively little attention this election cycle underscores the challenges he faces.
Alabama is friendly turf as voters have soured on Trump While Trump maintains a loyal base of supporters who turn out when he is on the ballot, he has become increasingly toxic. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research this week found that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling his job as president.
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