Days before the November election, when presidential candidates typically barnstorm battleground states to turn out every last one of their supporters, former President Trump will headline a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday.
The event is being held at a storied Manhattan arena that hosted the “Fight of the Century” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971, visits from two popes, multiple national political conventions and countless major musical and sports events. It was also the site where Marilyn Monroe infamously sang “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy.
It’s the type of venue that would appeal to Trump, a New York City native who reveled in his reputation as the consummate Big Apple billionaire businessman and sought-after bachelor, long before he ran for office.
The rally at the Garden represents a bookend to the start of his improbable presidential campaign in 2015. After descending down a gold escalator at Trump Tower, the site of his family’s penthouse that was their primary residence until 2019, Trump announced his White House bid. Trump’s campaign is billing the appearance as a marquee event in the closing days of the campaign.
Describing the rally as “historic,” Trump’s campaign said it will feature celebrities, elected officials and the former president’s friends and family.
“This epic event, in the heart of President Trump’s home city, will be a showcase of the historic political movement that President Trump has built in the final days of the campaign,” his campaign said in a statement announcing the program for the rally where Trump is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. (Pacific).
Among the introductory speakers are Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate; sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.; daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who is the co-chair of the Republican National Committee; House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana; SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was disbarred after his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and recently ordered to turn over assets, including a Manhattan apartment, to two Georgia election workers who successfully sued him for defamation.
Both Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, have recently spent time in states that will have almost certainly have no impact on the result of the 2024 presidential race because of their respective partisan tilts.
On Friday, Harris was endorsed by musical icon Beyoncé in the singer’s hometown of Houston. Texas last voted for a Democrat for president in 1976, and Trump is comfortably leading in all presidential polling in the state. However, as the state’s demographics and politics are evolving, incumbent GOP Sen. Ted Cruz appears to be facing a tougher challenge than expected from Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, a former professional football player.
“We cannot let Texas flip blue,” Cruz said in an emailed fundraising appeal on Saturday. “Texas is in jeopardy.”
Harris has an even stronger lead over Trump in polls of her home state of California, yet the former president rallied supporters in the Coachella Valley earlier this month.
While both California and New York are overwhelmingly Democratic, because of their size, they are home to millions of Republican voters.
The former president reportedly wants to increase his share of the popular vote. Additionally, California and New York are home to well over a dozen competitive congressional races that are likely to determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Embattled incumbent Rep. Ken Calvert, the longest-serving GOP member of California’s congressional delegation, was endorsed by Trump the same day the Corona Republican spoke at the former president’s Coachella Valley rally. Appearances by Republican New York congressional incumbents and hopefuls are expected at Trump’s Sunday rally.
On Sunday, Harris was in Philadelphia, the largest city in the critical state of Pennsylvania. As part of Democrats’ “Souls to the Polls” effort, Harris spoke at a traditionally Black church in West Philadelphia.
“We were born for a time such as this,” Harris told parishioners at the Church of Christian Compassion, as they rose to their feet. “In this moment, we do face a real question: What kind of country do we want to live in? A country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, justice and compassion?”
Later she talked to local leaders and Black men — a voting bloc that some Democrats worry Harris is underperforming with — at Philly Cuts, a nearby barber shop.
She is also expected to greet voters at a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philadelphia and to speak with families at basketball courts in the Northwest part of the city, the Harris campaign official said.
After Trump’s appearance in Manhattan, he is expected to hold rallies in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and Virginia.
