Former President Donald J. Trump, who has recently spent much of his time as a criminal defendant in Manhattan courtrooms, is scheduled to be in another New York borough next Thursday, when he plans to hold a campaign event in the Bronx.
The rally will be held in Crotona Park, the campaign announced in a statement Friday night, vowing that Trump will “relieve economic pressure on families and restore law and order to New York.”
It's an unusual location for a Republican presidential election event, as the region favored President Biden by about 77 percentage points in the 2020 election. Additionally, although some New York state congressional districts and neighborhoods, including the Bronx, have shifted to the right in recent years, the state as a whole is not considered a general election battleground.
But Trump's aides have been discussing the events in the South Bronx for weeks. They say this is not a traditional gathering.
The initiative comes while Trump is required to attend a criminal trial in Manhattan on charges he falsified business records to conceal hush-money payments to porn stars during the 2016 presidential campaign. He was scheduled to appear in court in various locations in New York City.
Last month, in his first campaign stop since the trial began, Trump took a tough-on-crime stance by visiting a Harlem wine farm and attacking the district attorney prosecuting him.
The former president told donors at a Manhattan fundraiser this week that he was planning something in the South Bronx, joking that he might get hurt in the neighborhood.
“We're going to have a great rally,” he said, eliciting laughter, according to one participant who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private events. “It could be a difficult question.”
New York Democratic Rep. Richie Torres, who represents the South Bronx, wrote on social media that there is “no greater enemy in the region than Donald Trump,” calling Donald Trump “the man who Bronx families are fighting for survival.” “a threat to the social safety nets on which we depend.'' ”
“The South Bronx, the most Democratic area in the nation, is not going to buy the snake oil he is selling,” Torres wrote.
