Speaking with a backdrop of boardwalk rides towering around him, former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening issued both vows and warnings to New Jersey voters as he spoke to a large crowd that gathered for a campaign rally on the beach in Wildwood.
Six months to Election Day, the presumptive Republican nominee predicted he will do something no presidential candidate from his party has done since 1988: carry the deep-blue Garden State, which he has lost twice by double digits.
“As you can see today, we’re expanding the electoral map because we are officially going to play in the state of New Jersey,” Trump told an audience of thousands gathered along the Atlantic Ocean in the famed Jersey Shore city. “We’re going to win the state of New Jersey.”
He also lamented that the price of hot dogs — like the one he said he ate before the event — have skyrocketed under his opponent, Democratic President Joe Biden.
“If Joe Biden wins this election, the middle class loses, New Jersey loses,” Trump said during his 90-minute speech.
He took jabs at the last two New Jersey governors: Republican Chris Christie, a one-time ally turned rival, and Democrat Phil Murphy, trashing the wind turbine and electric car programs at the center of the latter’s energy policies.
With former New York Giants Lawrence Taylor and Ottis Anderson in the crowd, the former Atlantic City casino mogul proclaimed his affection for the Shore.
“I love the Shore better than most of the people here,” Trump said. “You have to vote if you want to keep it going.”
And he proclaimed his dominance over the Garden State’s most famous rock star.
“We have a much bigger crowd that Bruce Springsteen,” Trump said.
In other words, it was a Jersey-centric edition of one of his trademark sprawling, irreverent, and frequently fact-checked stump speeches.
“It’s been home to some of the toughest, smarted, talented Americans to ever grace the face of the earth,” Trump said of New Jersey. “But now we are a nation in decline. … We are a nation that has quite simply lost its way. But we are not going to allow this horror to continue. … We will soon be a great nation again.”
Despite the state’s Democratic bent, Trump also filled his comments with references to right-wing views, such as curbing immigration, questioning the legitimacy of mail-in voting, and leaving abortion policies up to the states.
It marked the second time in four years Trump held a campaign rally in Wildwood. Last time was a winter-season event inside the local convention center, 10 months before he lost to Biden.
This one was held on the sand right along the Atlantic Ocean during a breezy and busy May weekend as Trump and Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominees, face off in a rematch in November.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-1st Dist., claimed from the stage this was the largest political rally in New Jersey history — though it likely fell short short of when then-presidential hopeful Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared in Sea Girt in 1932, which reportedly drew 120,000 people.
- MORE: Wild scene at Jersey Shore beach awaits arrival of former President Trump’s rally
The rally also came as Trump continues to be on trial in a hush-money case in a courtroom two hours north in Manhattan. Trump faces three other unrelated criminal indictments, as well.
He appeared Saturday under a judge’s gag order that limits his legal ability to comment publicly on witnesses, jurors, and some others connected to the trial. The judge in the case already has fined Trump $9,000 for violating the order and warned that jail could follow if he doesn’t comply.
Trump didn’t directly reference details of the case at the rally, though he did dismiss the charges he faces when he randomly brought up notorious gangster Al Capone.
“I got indicted more than him,” Trump said. “On bulls**t, too.”
Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials in New York of using the legal system to block his return to the Oval Office. Prosecutors allege Trump broke the law to conceal an affair with a porn actor that would have hurt his first presidential bid.
Biden, meanwhile, began the weekend with a series of fundraising events on the West Coast and has so far avoided discussing Trump’s legal woes.
National polls have so far shown a close race. In New Jersey, a recent survey from Emerson College found Biden leading Trump here only by 7 percentage points and by only 5 when third party candidates are added.
Though New Jersey is heavily Democratic, there are pockets of MAGA support here. Wildwood is in the middle of one swath. Saturday’s crowd also likely included many residents from neighboring Pennsylvania, a critical swing state.
Trump said Saturday he plans to make a play for several blue states.
“This guy’s so damn bad, it could be all of them,” he said of Biden.
It would be a massive upset for Trump to take New Jersey. He lost the state to Biden by 16 percentage points in 2020 to Democrat Hillary Clinton by 14 points in 2016.
A recent poll from Emerson College, though, showed Biden leading Trump here only by 7 percentage points and by only 5 when third party candidates are added.
Trump said high inflation has drained money from New Jerseyans’ budgets.
“Not one thing is cheaper,” he said.
Democrats held a press call Friday in advance of Trump’s appearance, noting that the U.S. lost a net 2.7 million jobs during Trump’s time in the Oval Office — a period affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Under Biden, U.S. employment is 10% above where it was when he took office.
Murphy also fired a shot against Trump on social media.
“As Trump holds his rally today in NJ, he remains focused on himself, not the American people,” the New Jersey governor wrote. “Joe Biden continues to deliver results: investing in infrastructure, reducing prescription drug costs, and protecting reproductive freedom. The choice is clear.”
Meanwhile, Michael Tyler, communication director for Biden’s campaign, rejected the idea of Trump winning New Jersey.
“I think here on Planet Earth in the Biden campaign, we’re going to remain laser-focused on winning 270 electoral votes,” Tyler said.
- MORE: Democrats strike at Trump ahead of N.J. rally
During his speech, Trump cracked a joke about Murphy’s predecessor, Christie, who consistently blasted the former president during a campaign that ended weeks before the New Hampshire primary.
“Does anybody like Chris Christie?” he asked. “He was a major case of Trump derangement system.”
He then knocked the incumbent governor when he promised his supporters that if he wins in November, they “won’t have to worry about Gov. Murphy and his 157 windmills.”
“We are going to make sure that ends on Day 1,” Trump said.
His appearance was a spectacle in Wildwood. From the boardwalk, curious onlookers peered through gaps in a blue plastic barrier attached to a chain link fence running the length of the venue space. Some tore holes in the plastic to get a better view as Trump spoke.
Trump flew from New York City to New Jersey in his trademark blue plane, which soaring low over the rally around 4 p.m. His motorcade — carrying North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a possible vice presidential pick — passed under the boardwalk around 5:30 p.m.
The former president arrived on stage around 6:30 p.m. to a harmonious roar from the crowd. His speech ended just before 8 p.m.
Before Trump took the stage, Van Drew, a Republican who represents Wildwood in Congress, told the crowd “we remember four years ago, when we had a great economy.”
“There is nothing wrong with saying you believe in America,” said the congressman, a former Democrat who switched parties in 2020 and became a vocal Trump backer.
The congressman also touted Trump’s stance on immigration to a cheering crowd.
“Immigration is a good thing,” Van Drew said at one point. “Legal immigration.”
Spotted along the boardwalk were a few people wearing T-shirts that read “Proud Boys,” a right-wing group the Anti-Defamation League has labeled as extremist. Among the crowds gathered at the entrance to the beach awaiting Trump’s arrival were three masked Proud Boys members.
Police said no permits for counterprotests were filed with Wildwood.
NJ Advance Media staff writers Spencer Kent and Andre Malok and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
