Trump 2020 raring to get going
Fanfare in Florida on advance display for announcement
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will announce his re-election campaign Tuesday at Orlando’s Amway Center, a speech that will fulfill Trump’s decision to file for re-election on Inauguration Day in 2017.
On Monday, Trump tweeted that more than 100,000 ticket requests had been submitted for a venue that seats 20,000. Local news organizations reported that attendees began to line up in the wee hours Monday morning for an event scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
But first, there will be 45 Fest, a tailgate party that begins at 10 a.m. with food trucks and a band named the Guzzlers. The campaign will set up huge TV screens so that supporters who never make it past the parking lot can watch Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence.
“Inside and out, the excitement at this Trump rally will be something to remember as President Trump makes history,” campaign Chief Operating Officer Michael Glassner said in a statement.
Trump now oversees a well-staffed and professional campaign operation, steps above the bare-bones insurgent campaign run out of Trump Tower that catapulted the billionaire to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. While Trump raised $335 million to run and win in 2016, his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, expects to raise nearly $1 billion this time around.
Air Force One heads to Florida after a quiet Monday that followed bad news stories for the president. Fox News released a poll last week that showed two Democratic hopefuls, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, beating Trump by 10 points and 9 points respectively in a head-to-head match.
Then on Sunday, NBC reported that the Trump campaign had fired pollsters after leaked internal polls taken in March showing Trump losing to Biden in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and Wisconsin, key battleground states which Trump won in 2016.
The 2020 organization and local GOP parties are holding hundreds of events across the country, including a MAGA Meet Up watch party at Treasure Island that starts at 4:30 p.m. hosted by Trump Victory and the Nevada Republican Party. The Nevada GOP will also host more than 30 watch parties.