Trump Shuts Down In New Jersey

Despite previous promises that he’d win the state, it looks like Donald Trump is giving up on New Jersey:

Donald Trump and his supporters claimed, once the Republican nomination was wrapped up, that traditionally blue New Jersey could be in play come November.

With great fanfare, Trump’s campaign opened a New Jersey office on May 3 in Edison, which attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 supporters, according to a local news account.

Later that month, when one statewide poll showed Trump within 4 points of Hillary Clinton in the state, the Republican nominee projected confidence about the outcome.

“I think so,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on May 31, when asked if he could win New Jersey. “I mean, I love New Jersey. I am New Jersey. Like a second home. I have property there. I have a lot of employees there. And frankly, I think we’re going to do well.”

But the Trump campaign appears to have pulled up stakes in the Garden State.

After two messages left at the number of Trump’s New Jersey headquarters were not returned, POLITICO visited the nondescript suburban complex listed as its address.

That office no longer exists.

 (…)
“It’s not a surprise that he’s written off New Jersey because for the first time in my political life, he has to worry about winning states like Arizona and Georgia,” Roginsky said.
The last poll in the Garden state was a June Farleigh Dickinson University poll that showed Clinton leading Trump by 21 points, and it’s likely that Clinton’s lead has either remained steady or grown in the two months that have followed. Most likely, what we’re seeing here is the remainder of the Trump effort in the state being folded into the state GOP’s office where they’ll conduct their business from, but the lack of even one independent office in the state is basically a concession that the state is lost. This may be one of the few sane decisions the Trump campaign has made in the past two months.
FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Mister Bluster says:

    Sure hope the bridge was open so he could get out of town!

  2. Arkindole says:

    … but the lack of even one independent office in the state is basically a concession that the state is lost

    Logic at the level of CNN et al.
    Better check who else is associated with NJ and Trump.

    Great job.

  3. Facebones says:

    Too be fair, he only has one office in Florida, too.

  4. James Pearce says:

    @Arkindole:

    Better check who else is associated with NJ and Trump.

    Chris “Shinebox” Christie?

  5. Concerned UK Citizen says:

    It seems to me that, with Trump spending virtually no money on TV ad’s, and his refusal to publish his tax returns, the questions about a) the amount of tax he pays and b) is he as wealthy as he claims, come back into play.

  6. OzarkHillbilly says:

    This may be one of the few sane decisions the Trump campaign has made in the past two months.

    I doubt it. I’m betting the check bounced.