Trump returns to campaign rallies, bringing thousands to small South Carolina city ahead of July 4

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PICKENS, SC (AP) Former President Donald Trump on Saturday marked a return to the large-scale rallies of his previous presidential campaigns, addressing thousands who gathered on the streets of a small South Carolina city in a fiery day before the July 4 holiday.

There is no place I would rather start the Fourth of July weekend than right here on Main St., with thousands of hard-working South Carolina patriots who believe in God, family and country, Trump said. to a roaring crowd standing on the asphalt as temperatures soared into the 90s.

It was not immediately clear how many people gathered on the streets of downtown Pickens, a small city in South Carolina’s conservative Upstate of about 3,400 residents. Law enforcement officials told several media outlets that about 15,000 people had gathered by 11 am, two hours before Trumps speech.

A judge closed the courtroom from the public and reporters as he heard pretrial motions in the death penalty case of a South Carolina man charged with killing two police officers in a 2018 ambush.

A potential swing vote on the new all-male South Carolina Supreme Court has lawyers grilling whether patients have enough time to get an abortion after learning of their pregnancy as justices weigh whether a new ban is similar which is unconstitutional to the one that was shot years ago.

The Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is drawing endorsements from 15 South Carolina legislators. The list was first shared Thursday with The Associated Press outside the DeSantis town hall in North Augusta.

The South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster vetoed just $1.5 million from the states $13 billion budget for the next fiscal year. He announced the vetoes on Tuesday.

The heavily Republican precinct is a popular spot for GOP hopefuls as they aim to attract support for South Carolina’s first-in-the-South presidential primary. In recent months, other candidates including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have all held events in the Upstate, as have two South Carolinians in the race: former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott.

But none drew crowds like Trump, whose appearance effectively shut down Pickens’ quintessential southern downtown.

In contrast to his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, which drew thousands to rallies in states across the country, Trumps 2024 effort is markedly different. Earlier this year, instead of speaking to voters in a gymnasium or airplane hangar, Trump held his first campaign event in South Carolina inside the Statehouse in Columbia, launching his team led by state at an invitation-only gathering in an ornate lobby between the House and Senate. rooms.

In other states, the former president focused his efforts on smaller events, including a series of speeches before state party organizations, as he worked to strengthen his standing among delegates and local which is official.

It was Trumps second major rally of the 2024 campaign. In March, he rallied in Waco, Texas, lashing out at prosecutors then investigating him on hush-hush charges against him and predicting his vindication. A planned outdoor rally in Iowa in May was canceled due to tornado warnings.

The rallies are also expensive to put on, although Trump continues to bring in millions in fundraising, after both the New York indictment and federal charges related to his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House. Last month, senior Trump aide Chris LaCivita told the conservative Ruthless podcast that the rallies were half a million dollars a pop.

Trumps campaign has also leaned on unannounced stops at restaurants such as a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant Friday or Versailles, a popular Cuban eatery in Miami in a bid to show his strong appeal to supporters. despite many legal challenges.

With the broad GOP field continuing to grow, Trumps campaign pointed to polls showing him with a large lead over his rivals, despite a campaign schedule that is less robust than many of his rivals. She has also given frequent media interviews and appeared at many of the multi-candidate events of the primary season so far, including last week’s Moms for Liberty gathering in Philadelphia.

Still, the chance to see the former president in person drew thousands from across the Southeast for Saturday’s rally, with attendees starting to line up the night before, and coming from as far away as Florida. Greg Pressley and his wife, Robin, said they drove more than three hours from their home in east Tennessee to see the candidate they’ve supported since his first run in 2016.

Donald Trump is the best president in history, says Greg Pressley. I like his rules. i love the man I’m here to support him in getting back to where he should be, in the beginning.

Shelley Fox of Spartanburg, who said she has supported Trump since he entered the race in 2016, said she doesn’t feel the need to think about any other candidates for election in years to come.

I will write to him, he said, when asked what he would do if forced to consider another dependent. No question Id write him in.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

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