Trump to arrive in Las Vegas Tuesday
Extended time shows he’s committed to state
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will arrive in Las Vegas two days ahead of his remarks at a graduation for ex-offenders Thursday — a sign that his re-election campaign will focus on flipping Nevada in November.
“Whenever a major primary or caucus is occurring on the Democratic side in a state, Trump comes and gives a speech or rally, so as not to concede the stage entirely to the Democratic candidates,” noted Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “It makes sense.”
Air Force One is expected to touch down at Mccarran International Airport Tuesday evening. There will be no public events in Las Vegas on Tuesday or Wednesday, but the president is expected at a big-ticket golf fundraiser in Rancho Mirage, California, during the day and at a campaign rally in Phoenix at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Afterward, Air Force One should head to Las Vegas some time around the start of the Democratic debate in Las Vegas at 9 p.m.
After Trump attends a graduation ceremony for the group Hope for Prisoners at the Metropolitan Police Department’s headquarters on Thursday, he will depart for a rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
While the White House and
Trump campaign do not disclose where Trump stays when he travels, the president usually stays at his Trump International Hotel when he is in town.
Trump repeatedly has suggested that he sees Nevada as winnable in 2020, even though Hillary Clinton garnered 47.9 percent of the Nevada vote to his 45.5 percent in 2016.
In 2018, a blue wave cost Nevada’s GOP Sen. Dean Heller his seat and swept all but one statewide office toward Democratic candidates.
Nonetheless, Nevada Republican Party chairman Michael Mcdonald told the Review-journal that Las Vegas “always has been a strategic hub for the president. He has a beautiful hotel here. The people of Nevada are 1,000 percent behind him.”
“I hope he spends a lot of money here because I think he has no chance to win Nevada,” countered Rep. Dina Titus, D-nev., who pointed to 2016 and 2018 results to bolster her view.
Mcdonald, a former Las Vegas city councilman and Metropolitan Police Department officer who also serves as assistant constable for Laughlin, sees Trump’s support for Hope for Prisoners and his commitment to criminal justice reform as a potential game changer.
In another play for Nevada, Vice President Mike Pence will speak at an Evangelicals For Trump event Friday in Las Vegas, a day ahead of the Democratic caucuses. Pence also will participate in a Reno event before he heads back to Washington.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @Debrajsaunders on Twitter.