Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that he had actually previously won New Mexico in two separate elections while on the campaign trail, saying the votes were "rigged."
On Thursday, the former president stopped in Albuquerque in a move that was not expected from the Republican presidential ticket, reported the Alabama Reflector. New Mexico has voted for Democrats for the past two decades, hence why many expected the Trump to be traveling to states in which he has more support with less than a week left before the 2024 presidential election.
Trump: I won New Mexico twice
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 31, 2024
(He lost New Mexico twice) pic.twitter.com/V0kYqjlHwO
The rally was admittedly to garner support from the Hispanic community in the upcoming election, with the crowd chanting "¡Que viva Trump!" and "Keep Trump safe!" in reference to the assassination attempts Trump survived.
"They all said, 'Don't come.' I said, 'Why?' 'You can't win New Mexico.' I said, 'Look, your votes are rigged,'" Trump said at an afternoon rally. "We almost won it twice and let me tell you, I believe we won it twice if you want to know the truth. And if you can watch your vote counter, if we could bring God down from heaven, he could be the vote counter. We'd win California, we'd win a lot of states."
The former president lost New Mexico to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by eight points in 2016, and then by 11 points to President Joe Biden in 2020, according to the Washington Post.
Thousands turn out to see Trump in New Mexico...
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 31, 2024
No free concert necessary. pic.twitter.com/Ee69I0IoQP
This is the first time a presidential candidate has visited the state during this election cycle. Focusing on spending her time in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris has not visited New Mexico on the campaign trail.
"Don't make me waste a whole, damn half-a-day here, OK? Look, I came here. We can be nice to each other, or we can talk turkey," Trump told the crowd, encouraging New Mexico voters to support him. "I'm here for one simple reason: I like you very much, and it's good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community. You know, on the East Coast, they like being called Hispanics, you know this? On the West Coast, they like being called Latinos."
Recently, Trump has been visiting blue states such as California, New Jersey and New York, in an unconventional campaign strategy to flip more left-leaning voters. While this may seem like a waste of time when considering that some of these states have not voted red in decades, his rallies in these states have drawn significant attention and crowd sizes.
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