Trump rallies in monochromatic California in an unorthodox campaign move News about the 2024 US election

Former President Donald Trump will hold a rally in deep blue California, part of an unorthodox campaign move in the final leg of the neck-and-neck race for the US presidential election.

The Saturday evening event near the Coachella Valley — best known for its annual music festival — comes just 22 days before the Nov. 5 vote.

The final leg of the election is usually reserved for daring visits to the most closely contested states, which this year include Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada.

That makes Trump's stay in California – a Democratic stronghold that will overwhelmingly vote for Vice President Kamala Harris – atypical. Harris was born and raised in this state. He was previously the attorney general of California and enjoys great popularity there.

In the last presidential election in 2020, Trump lost in California to Democrat Joe Biden by almost 30 percentage points.

In a statement announcing the event, Trump's campaign said the stop was intended to underscore that “under Kamala Harris and her dangerous Democratic allies like (running mate) Tim Walz, the infamous 'California Dream' has become a nightmare for ordinary Americans.” .

The visit to the state was widely seen as an attempt to win broader Republican support. This is particularly necessary in six key races for the House of Representatives in California.

This election season, control of the House of Representatives and Senate – the two chambers of the US Congress – is at stake. And certain congressional districts in California are sharply divided between Republicans and Democrats.

A victory in the six closely contested House races could help Republicans maintain their control of the House.

The visit to California gives Trump an “opportunity to influence and win over this large group of Trump supporters,” Tim Lineberger, communications director for Trump's 2016 campaign in Michigan and a member of the former president's administration, told the news outlet Associated Press.

He “comes here and activates that,” Lineberger added.

The move could also be an attempt to increase Trump's final vote total. In the United States, the winner of presidential races is determined by the Electoral College, a weighted voting system in which states allocate electors to candidates based on state-level voting.

Nearly all states award all of their electors on a winner-take-all system: Even if a candidate wins by a narrow margin in a particular state, he or she receives all of the electors.

That means a candidate can lose in the general popular vote but win in the Electoral College system, as Trump did in 2016. However, in 2020, he lost to Biden on both counts.

The fact that he never won the popular vote remains a sensitive issue for the former Republican president. California, with its nearly 40 million residents, offers an opportunity to attract supporters who might not otherwise consider it worthwhile to vote.

“I think Donald Trump is coming to California because he wants to win not only in the Electoral College, but in the popular vote,” Jim Brulte, a former chairman of the California Republican Party, told the Associated Press.

Battlefield Blitz

To be sure, Trump is squeezing his visit to California between a stop in Nevada on Saturday and a rally in Arizona on Sunday, two battleground states more typical of the final weeks of a presidential campaign.

In Nevada, Trump attended a roundtable with Latino voters as his campaign sought to capitalize on signs that Latino men are increasingly turning away from Democrats.

Harris, for her part, visited North Carolina, which was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene. She said her visit was “primarily to see how they are doing after the hurricane.”

Harris should also publicize her plan for an “opportunity economy” and meet with black community leaders. Trump narrowly won North Carolina in 2020, but the eastern state has trended Democratic in some recent polls, buoyed by its large college-educated and Black population.

Earlier in the day, Harris released the results of a health examination. It said she had “the physical and mental resilience required to successfully carry out the duties of the presidency.”

Releasing health tests has long been a norm for presidential candidates in the US, with Harris quick to point out that Trump, 78, has not done so before.

“It is clear to me that he and his team do not want the American people to really see what he is doing and whether he is actually fit to take on the job of president of the United States,” she told reporters.

Trump's campaign has claimed that the former president “voluntarily released updates from his personal physician” and the doctor who treated him after an assassination attempt in July.

“Everyone has concluded that he is in perfect and excellent health to be commander in chief,” his campaign spokesman said, accusing Harris of “not having the stamina” of Trump.