RIO RANCHO, N.M. — President Donald Trump rallied his supporters in New Mexico on Monday and talked up his chances of turning the state red as part of his efforts to expand his grip on the Electoral College in next year’s presidential election.
“It’s been a while since a Republican won New Mexico,” Trump told supporters, who greeted him with chants of “USA, USA.” “I think we’re going to do great here. We’re here because we really think we’re going to turn this state and make it a Republican state.”
Trump’s rally in Rio Rancho, in suburban Albuquerque, is the first stop on a three-day swing that will also take him to California for fundraisers expected to raise more than $15 million.
Trump is looking to find the next Wisconsin or Michigan — states that Democrats generally win in presidential elections but that can surprise under certain conditions, as they did in 2016.
New Mexico has not voted for a Republican in the presidential election since 2004. Trump captured just 40 percent of the state vote in 2016, as compared to the 48 percent that went for Hillary Clinton. She did not visit the state during the 2016 campaign.
Still, campaign officials say a Trump rally in nearby El Paso, Texas, last February was well attended by female and Hispanic voters and travelers from New Mexico, indicating to them that New Mexico is in play. Hundreds of people showed up early Monday to claim a place in line ahead of the evening event in Rio Rancho. Protesters, for their part, vowed to step up acts of civil disobedience and demonstrations.
“We have the opportunity because of our fundraising and infrastructure to not only defend the states we carried in 2016, but to extend the map in 2020,” said Rick Gorka, a spokesman for a fundraising committee for Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Gorka said New Mexico is a big part of that strategy, as are Minnesota, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Trump’s efforts in New Mexico will provide a test of how well his often-harsh rhetoric about immigrants will play with Hispanic voters, who comprise nearly 40 percent of New Mexico’s electorate.
