Former President Donald Trump has kicked off his 2024 presidential run with stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina, marking his first campaign appearances since announcing his White House bid more than two months ago.
At an evening event in Columbia to introduce his South Carolina leadership team, Trump announced, “Together we will complete the unfinished business of making America great again.”
Trump and his allies hope the events in states with enormous power in selecting the nominee will offer a show of force behind the former President after a slow start to his campaign that left many questioning his commitment to run again.
“They said, ‘He’s not doing rallies, he’s not campaigning. Maybe he’s lost that step,’” Trump said at the New Hampshire GOP’s annual meeting in Salem, his first event.
However, he told the audience of party leaders, “I’m more angry now and I’m more committed now than I ever was.” In South Carolina, he further dismissed the speculation by saying that, “we have huge rallies planned, bigger than ever before.”
Trump’s aides insist that they have been busy behind the scenes. His campaign opened a headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida, and has been hiring staff.
In recent weeks, backers have been reaching out to political operatives and elected officials to secure support for Trump at a critical point when other Republicans are preparing their own expected challenges.
In New Hampshire, Trump promoted his campaign agenda, including immigration and crime, and said his policies would be the opposite of President Joe Biden’s.
Trump cited the Democrats’ move to change the election calendar, costing New Hampshire its leadoff primary spot, and accused Biden, a fifth-place finisher in New Hampshire in 2020, of “disgracefully trashing this beloved political tradition.”
Later in South Carolina, Trump said he planned to keep the state’s presidential primary as the “first in the South” and called it “a very important state.”
In his speech, Trump moved from criticism of Biden and Democrats to disparaging comments about transgender people, mockery of people promoting the use of electric stoves and electric cars.
Trump reminisced about efforts while serving as President to increase oil production, strike trade deals and crack down on migration at the U.S-Mexico border.
Potential Challengers Expected To Start Their Campaigns In Coming Months
While Trump remains the only declared 2024 presidential candidate, potential challengers, including Florida Governor; Ron DeSantis, former Vice President; Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor; Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, are expected to get their campaigns underway in the coming months.
Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and several members of the state’s congressional delegation attended Trump’s event at the Statehouse.
Trump’s team has struggled to line up support from South Carolina lawmakers, even some who eagerly backed him before.
Some have said that more than a year out from primary balloting is too early to make endorsements or that they are waiting to see who else enters the race. Others also said it is time for the party to move past Trump to a new generation of leadership.
He is the subject of a series of criminal investigations, including one into the discovery of hundreds of documents with classified markings at his Florida club and whether he obstructed justice by refusing to return them, as well as state and federal examinations of his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.
Nonetheless, early polling shows that Donald Trump is a favorite to win his party’s nomination.
Stephen Stepanek, outgoing Chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party, opined, “The gun is fired, and the campaign season has started.”
Trump announced that Stepanek will serve as Senior Adviser for his campaign in the state.
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