Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin welcomed former president Donald Trump to Virginia Saturday and encouraged voters to throw their support behind him and other Republican candidates at a campaign rally at the Salem Convention Center in Roanoke County.
The campaign stop was Trump’s third visit to Virginia. The Republican candidate went to Arlington Cemetery and a restaurant in Falls Church, Va. on Aug. 26, and a rally in Chesapeake in Norfolk County on June 28.
Kamala Harris has never made a campaign stop in Virginia since becoming the Democratic nominee. Aaron Fritschner, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said it’s a “waste of time” to campaign in Virginia for not only Harris, but Trump because Trump lost the state in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
“This is exactly why he SHOULD be campaigning here,” said Melanie Rocher who attended the rally, “to show the people of Virginia who he is, what he stands for and what he plans to do if re-elected. Going into a state where he lost previously honestly shows a lot of grit, determination and strength. And it also shows the people here that he cares about them. He has my vote.”
Rural areas of the country have long been spots of great strength for Trump. The entire Southwest region of Virginia voted red in 2020.
“A special hello to Virginia. I know it well to put it mildly,” Trump said Saturday night. ” I want to begin with a very simple question: Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
“We win Virginia we win the whole thing no question,” Trump said. “Now, it’s very possible that without Virginia we win the whole thing, too. But wouldn’t it be cool?”
Residents sat out under the stars overnight to get a seat at the rally. Jason Daniels has seen Trump nine times, he told a local Southwest TV station. Another woman said she drove seven hours from Kentucky to attend the rally. For those who could not get into the convention center, there were TV stations set up outside for people to still be able to watch.
“President Trump is holding a rally in Virginia because Virginia is in play,” said Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for the Trump campaign in Virginia.
A women’s swim team who ousted a transgender athlete appeared on stage in Salem to endorse Trump. The Roanoke College women’s swim team recently filed a complaint to block a trans athlete from joining the team.
Lily Mullins, one of the team’s captains, thanked Trump for “standing with women” and accused his opponent Kamala Harris and Joe Biden of presiding over a regime of “anti-woman sex-based discrimination”.
Trump also invited to the stage Maryland resident Tammy Nobles, the mother of a Kayla Hamilton who was raped and killed by illegal migrant and M-13 gang member Walter Javier Martinez from El Salvador in 2022. He was sentenced to 70 years in jail.
She spoke about her support for Trump’s illegal immigration policy if he is elected.
Trump’s policy stances can he seen here.
Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news
