No Republican presidential candidate has carried New Jersey in 36 years, but Donald Trump says he’s going to try to make history in 2024.
“One of the other things I’m going to do — and I may be foolish in doing it — is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” the former president told Breitbart in an interview released Tuesday.
“I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them,” Trump added before clarifying that “[t]hat doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.”
Trump did campaign in New Jersey last time; he rallied in Wildwood back in 2020 shortly after Congressman Jeff Van Drew (who represents the iconic beach resort) switched parties, though the campaign didn’t devote significant resources to turning the one-time home of his former casino empire from blue to red.
History doesn’t favor a Trump play for the state’s 14 electoral votes.
In 1988, George H. W. Bush won 18 of 21 counties and 56%+ of the vote in the Garden State over Democrat Michael Dukakis. Only Mercer, Hudson, and Essex counties went for the Democrat over the incumbent Vice President. Republicans haven’t won here since and it’s usually not close; Hillary Clinton posted a 55.45% victory tally over Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden improved slightly to 57.34% in 2020.
But with all of that being said, recent polling has shown President Biden’s approval rating well underwater in New Jersey offering some hope of a competitive contest in November assuming Trump secures the GOP nomination.
