President Trump is actively campaigning for reelection earlier than any incumbent in modern history, with a flurry of major events scheduled in just the first two weeks of 2020.
Previous presidents avoided the campaign trail until deep into their reelection year, milking incumbency in a bid to cultivate the image of a bipartisan policymaker untainted by ugly politics. Trump has upended that model. This month, he is headlining at least two “Keep America Great” rallies in swing states Ohio and Wisconsin, with Vice President Mike Pence headed to Florida for a bus tour and Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, campaigning in key suburban battlegrounds.
“This is critical counterprogramming,” Jason Miller, a former Trump communications adviser, said Monday. “As we head into the Senate impeachment trial, it’s very clear that if the president wants to see any good news about the positive accomplishments from the administration, [the campaign] is going to have to go out and create those opportunities themselves.”
Trump declared his run for reelection soon after being inaugurated nearly three years ago and has since maintained an aggressive pace of signature-style, stadium rallies. The president kicked off his reelection last June in Orlando, Florida, with a daylong festival and rally.
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Trump’s immediate predecessors devoted the year preceding their reelection year, and a significant portion of their reelection year, to fundraising and building their campaign organizations. In 2004, President George W. Bush did not hold his first campaign rally — also in Orlando — until late March. President Barack Obama, his successor, waited until early May of 2012 to hit the stump with a rally in Columbus, Ohio.
“At this point, presidential campaigns are normally more focused on fundraising,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. “When [Trump] goes to Ohio this week, he’s going for a rally, not a fundraiser, and that’s unique.”
Already this month, the president launched his campaign’s “Evangelicals for Trump” coalition with a rally-style speech before more than 5,000 people at a megachurch in Miami, Florida.
On Thursday, Trump travels to Toledo, Ohio, for a “Keep America Great” rally, followed by another the following Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lara Trump is to hold separate, more intimate events the day before each rally, in Columbus, Ohio, and Wausau, Wisconsin. On Jan. 16, Pence and his wife will deploy to Tampa, Florida, for a mini-rally, after which they will lead a bus tour along the crucial Interstate 4 corridor to Orlando for a “Latinos for Trump” event.
