Trump headlines Election Eve tele-rallies in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races

TOTOWA, N.J. – Hours before the polls open, President Donald Trump is making a final pitch in Tuesday’s statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia, in an effort to turn out MAGA voters who often sit out off-year elections when Trump isn’t on the ballot.

The president will headline tele-rallies on Election Eve in both New Jersey and Virginia, which are the only two states that hold races for governor the year after a presidential election.

The New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial showdowns typically receive outsized national attention and are seen as a key barometer ahead of next year’s midterms, when the GOP will be defending its slim House and Senate majorities. And this year’s elections are also seen as the first major ballot box test of Trump’s unprecedented agenda since his White House return.

“Jack will be a GREAT Governor, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump wrote Sunday night in a social media post as he praised New Jersey Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli. “He will never let you down.”

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Ciattarelli has narrowed the gap with Democratic rival Rep. Mikie Sherrill in blue-leaning New Jersey, in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

“We appreciate what the president is doing to get the base excited, and remind them that they got to vote, as do all New Jerseyans. The future of our state hangs in the balance. Get out and vote,” Ciattarelli told Fox News Digital on Monday, after a campaign stop in this northern New Jersey borough.

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in New Jersey, Republicans have been very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the previous ten elections.

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While the president’s approval and favorable ratings remain underwater in New Jersey, Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election. He lost the state by only six percentage points, a huge improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier. And while Democrats still outnumber Republicans in the Garden State, the GOP has made significant voter registration gains since Ciattarelli came close to upsetting Murphy four years ago.

The president’s tele-rally for Ciattarelli follows a similar one a week and a half ago, on the eve of early voting. The purpose of the tele-rallies is to help energize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low-propensity voters who often skip casting ballots in non-presidential election years.

Trump’s tele-rally in New Jersey last month included robocalls to over 180,000 people, encouraging them to join the tele-rally and to get out and vote.

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“Republicans need to maximize all the Trump supporters they can find. It’s been clear the last several election cycles that there’s a bit of a drop-off between supporters of the president and down-ballot Republicans,” veteran GOP strategist Jesse Hunt told Fox News.

Hunt, a former Republican Governors Association communications director, said that “in order to have success in competitive states like New Jersey or Virginia, you have to make sure that every single Trump voter that was there in 2024 shows up to vote.”

Trump endorsed Ciattarelli ahead of the June GOP gubernatorial primary, with his backing helping Ciattarelli to an easy nomination victory.

But Trump has refrained from endorsing the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

Earle-Sears is facing off with former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

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Trump and Gov. Glenn Youngkin headlined a Thursday tele-rally for the entire Virginia Republican ticket, which also includes Lt. Gov. nominee John Reid and incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Similar to New Jersey, Trump also lost Virginia in last year’s presidential elections but made major gains in comparison to his 2020 finish in the state.

“VIRGINIA AND NEW JERSEY, REMEMBER THIS: A VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN MEANS SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER ENERGY PRICES,” Trump argued in an Election Eve social media post. “FAILING TO VOTE TOMORROW IS THE SAME AS VOTING FOR A DEMOCRAT.”

Trump’s Monday evening tele-rallies come as the president is also making a final multimillion-dollar investment in Tuesday’s statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

Trump’s political team made a withdrawal from the president’s massive political war chest, with New Jersey and Virginia each receiving roughly $1 million for get-out-the-vote microtargeting efforts, Fox News confirmed this weekend.

“What you’ve seen just in the last couple of days is the president and all of our Republican forces have put even more money behind our efforts to turn out our votes because that’s what it’s gonna come down to,” Joe Gruters, chairman of the Trump-aligned Republican National Committee (RNC), said Saturday on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show.”

Meanwhile, the rival Democratic National Committee has dished out over $7 million – a party record – for get-out-the-vote and organizing efforts this summer and autumn in New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, where Democrats are fighting to retain three state supreme court seats. 

“I’ve always taken the position that every election matters, whether it’s an on year off year, whether it’s a local election, a federal election, every inch of ground that we gain here adds up,” DNC chair Ken Martin told Fox News Digital last week.

And Martin is confident his party’s investment in 2025’s most consequential elections will pay off.

“I do expect that we’ll win those elections in New Jersey and Virginia,” he said. “We feel pretty bullish about our chances.”

By mfnnews