CNN National Correspondent Kristen Holmes credited former President Donald Trump on Thursday for being “on message” to voters while at a rally in New York, highlighting the attendance in the bluest area of the city was “much larger than” what the Biden campaign would like.
Holmes appeared on “Erin Burnett OutFront” to discuss the Trump rally in the Bronx. Reports have indicated that the crowd was reaching thousands of people. CNN host Erin Burnett noted the surprise of Trump’s location and asked Holmes about the turnout. (RELATED: Bronx Voters Tell Fox News Host Trump’s Rally Will ‘Bring Light To The Hood’)
“Turnout is certainly much larger than the Biden campaign would like, given that this is one of the bluest counties in the entire country,” Holmes stated. “But of course, as you said, this is coming as Donald Trump is making a play for minority voters, particularly black men and Latino men. That is something that we know: that Donald Trump, one, sees some opportunity with, but also, two, as you showed in that recent polling, there‘s some movement there and they really believe they can siphon off these minority voters from democratic groups.”
“Now the other part of this has been really interesting is Donald Trump himself saying that he believes New York is in play,” she continued. “Now I will obviously tell you that in 2016, he said the same thing, 2020 he said the same thing. Both times he lost the state by roughly 20 points or more. But Donald Trump is here for two reasons. One, we know that he’s courting minority voters, two, he had to be here or at least his team thought he had to be here. He was supposed to be in court today.”
“They thought he was going to be in court through the end of the week, obviously that wrapped on Tuesday,” Holmes went on. “They had planned this rally for several months in advance, trying to go to various communities in areas in New York to keep him somewhat on the campaign trail, somewhat surrounded by people who would be cheering for him while he was in court all day long.”
“But I will say he‘s been remarkably on message here talking about things that do matter to New York voters, talking about helping with infrastructure, helping with jobs,” she added. “I talked to a number of people in the Bronx before we even got into the rally and the response to him being here was mixed. We had people saying he should get out, that he doesn’t belong here, but we also had people saying that they voted for Biden in 2020 and they were looking for an alternative. Many of them citing the economy, saying they felt like times were too hard and they were looking seriously at voting for Donald Trump.”
