Trump to counter DNC with travel to swing states

President Trump next week will seek to counter the Democratic National Convention by traveling to three potential swing states to go on the attack against Joe Biden, his presumptive November opponent.

Trump will visit Minnesota and Wisconsin on Monday and fly to Arizona on Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced. The campaign offered few details on the president’s travel, other than to say Trump would be “highlighting Joe Biden’s record of failure.”

The president is also expected to be in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa., next Thursday, though that trip has yet to be officially announced. That visit would coincide with the day of Biden’s acceptance speech in Delaware.

The events may resemble Trump’s traditional campaign rallies, as they are all slated to be held at or near aircraft hangars or airports. The Trump campaign has held off on large rallies in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic and after an indoor rally in Tulsa, Okla., fell short of attendance expectations and likely led to a surge in cases in the area.

Trump’s travel amounts to an effort to salvage some of the spotlight next week, when much of the political world will be watching the Democratic convention. Former President Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others are expected to address the convention remotely.

The convention was initially slated to be held in Milwaukee, but the in-person portion was largely scrapped amid health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to Trump, Vice President Pence will be in Wisconsin on Wednesday.

All four states the president is expected to visit next week are likely to play a significant role in determining the outcome of the presidential election. Trump narrowly carried Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016, won Arizona by a wider margin over then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and narrowly lost Minnesota.

But Trump is trailing Biden by a wide margin in national polls, and battleground polls in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona have consistently shown the former vice president with a lead.

The Trump campaign has targeted Minnesota as one of the states it believes is in play to flip in November, but a RealClearPolitics average of polls there shows Biden with a 7-point lead over Trump.