Trump talks Virginia strategy in one-on-one interview
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) — Fresh off a campaign stop in Virginia, former President Donald Trump told 12 On Your Side how he plans to make the state competitive.
“Well, we’re opening up major offices in Virginia. We are polling now ahead of Crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country,” said Trump, the Republican candidate for president.
Trump rallied in Richmond earlier this year ahead of the state’s presidential primary. On Friday, he spoke to thousands in Chesapeake.
In a Trump 2024 memo, the campaign is securing leases for 11 Trump Force 47 offices in the state. Campaign officials also say a play for Virginia helps open up at least a dozen additional ways to 270 - the number of electoral college votes needed to clinch the presidency.
“We’ll be back in Virginia a lot. We’ll be campaigning very hard with your governor and with others,” said Trump. “And we think we’re going to take Virginia. We win Virginia, we win the whole thing, and we’ll make our country great again.”
Trump indicated that Gov. Glenn Youngkin is considered a potential vice president pick.
“Well, I have people in mind. I have so many good people. We have such a deep bench,” said Trump. “But we’ll be making a decision sometime early convention or before the convention. Glenn is one of the people we’re considering. Absolutely.”
Recent polls show that Trump and President Joe Biden are tied in the commonwealth.
“Well, I think law and order is very important. People want to be safe,” Trump said. “The border is a very important issue in Virginia. Second Amendment is very, very important. I mean, every issue that we have virtually that, we’re polling up by 40% and 50% higher than the Democrats. They’re all Virginia issues. That’s why it never made sense to me that Republicans don’t win it.”
A Biden campaign spokesperson released a statement about Trump in Virginia. It reads, “If Trump wants to spend his time and money trying to campaign in blue states, be our guest.”
The campaign is also responding to some of what Trump said during our interview by saying the Trump campaign has opened zero offices in Virginia as of now, while they’ve opened 11 offices, with more on the way.
Officials also point out that Biden won Virginia by more than 10 points in 2020, the strongest performance by a Democrat in the state since FDR.
Trump says it doesn’t matter based on Biden’s debate performance last week.
“Well, I don’t know what he’s going to do. I think that he polls better than other candidates. You know, when you hear the other candidates, and we’re talking about his polling better than them. So I don’t know. I mean, I don’t. Hopefully, it’s not going to matter because any one of them is not going to do the job that we have to do in our country.”
12 On Your Side has made a similar request to speak with candidate Biden about the race for the White House and how he plans to campaign in Virginia.
We haven’t received a no, but we’ve also not been given a green light to speak with him.
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