Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail after the Republican National Convention

2024-07-20 22:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Donald Trump

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held his first public campaign rally on Saturday since he was wounded in an assassination attempt a week ago in Pennsylvania and his first since officially receiving his party's nomination for the Milwaukee Convention.

He will address his supporters in Michigan, one of the states expected to be decisive in determining the fate of the November election. Mr. Trump heads to Michigan with new vice presidential candidate Ohio Senator JD Vance. It is the first rally where they have appeared together since former President Trump chose Mr. Vance as his vice presidential candidate.

The two Republicans will speak in Grand Rapids, a city that has historically been a Republican stronghold but has increasingly leaned Democratic in recent years. Mr. Trump won by a margin of just over 10,000 votes in Michigan in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by a margin of 154,000 votes.

Mr Trump's selection of Mr Vance was seen as an attempt to boost support among voters in states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio, which helped Mr Trump to victory in 2016.

Senator Vance singled out these states in his speech to the Republican convention, emphasizing his poor childhood in small-town Ohio and promising not to forget working-class residents like those among has grown, "whose jobs moved abroad and whose children were sent to wars".

Democrats dominated the last election in Michigan, but Republicans now see a path to victory as Democrats are increasingly divided over Mr. Biden's candidacy.

President Biden has insisted he is not dropping out of the race and has tried to shift the focus to Mr Trump, saying on Friday his Republican rival's speech to the Republican National Assembly laid out a "bleak vision of the future".

The 81-year-old Democratic president, who campaigned in Detroit this month, is currently staying at his Delaware beach home after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

It's also an area where Nikki Haley secured a significant number of votes in the Republican primary in February, and both presidential campaigns are trying to win over voters who supported her.

US Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat who represents the city of Grand Rapids, is one of a growing number of lawmakers calling for Mr. Biden to step down./ VOA