Presidential candidates typically focus much of their travel on battleground states, but on Wednesday is taking his message to a somewhat unlikely place: suburban New York.
The Republican presidential nominee and former president is heading to Uniondale, on Long Island, an area that could be key to his party . His party is trying to protect 18 Republicans in Democratic-heavy congressional districts that Joe Biden carried in 2020, particularly in coastal New York and California, and going on offense to challenge Democrats elsewhere.
Long Island in particular features one of the most , between first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D鈥橢sposito and Democrat Laura Gillen. D鈥橢sposito is a former New York Police detective who won in 2022 in a district that Biden won by about 15 percentage points in 2020.
Trump posted Tuesday on his Truth Social platform that the GOP has 鈥渁 real chance of winning鈥� New York 鈥渇or the first time in many decades." In that same post, Trump also pledged that he would 鈥済et SALT back,鈥� suggesting he would eliminate a cap on state and local tax deductions that were part of tax cut legislation he signed into law in 2017.
The so-called SALT cap has for many residents of New York, New Jersey, California and other high-cost, high-tax states, and is an important campaign issue in those states, particularly among those New York Republicans serving in districts Biden won.
On the Democratic side of the campaign, Vice President is expected to speak at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute鈥檚 47th Annual Leadership Conference in Washington on Wednesday, and has trips planned later in the week to Michigan and Wisconsin.
Latino voters form a critical bloc in swing states such as Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Speaking on the Nueva Network this week with the personality known as 鈥淐hiquibaby,鈥� Harris promoted her proposed tax deductions for new small businesses, her experience prosecuting border cases as California attorney general and her support for offering a 鈥減athway to citizenship for those who have earned it.鈥�
On Tuesday, the vice president with members of the National Association of Black Journalists. She decried Trump鈥檚 rhetoric and said voters should make sure he 鈥渃an鈥檛 have that microphone again.鈥�
Trump is attempting to return to his campaign cadence after Sunday's as he golfed in Florida. On Tuesday, he , and has not appeared to alter plans for upcoming trips to the nation's capital and North Carolina later in the week.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. , is scheduled to hold an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
___
Meg Kinnard can be reached at
Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press
