Trump makes play for blue-leaning state as he briefly detours from the battlegrounds

It’s been two decades since a Republican carried New Mexico in a presidential election. 

You’ve got to go back to President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election.

But former President Trump, making a brief detour from campaigning in the seven crucial battleground states that will likely determine whether he or Vice President Kamala becomes the next president, parachuted into the one-time swing state that now leans blue.

“Look, I’m only here for one reason,” Trump told supporters Thursday at a rally in Albuquerque, the state’s largest city. 

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Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, arrives at a campaign rally at Albuquerque International Sunport Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

“They said, ‘Oh, a Republican can’t win that state.’ They say a Republican can’t win. But you know what? We’re going to win it,” the former president optimistically predicted.

Trump also said his stop in New Mexico was good for his “credentials” with Hispanic voters. 

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“I’m here for one simple reason. I like you very much, and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community,” he argued.

The former president is facing backlash from some Latino voters after a comedian speaking at his large rally in New York City Sunday called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

There hasn’t been an abundance of polling in New Mexico, but most recent surveys indicate the vice president with an upper single-digit lead over the former president. Although one survey suggested a tighter contest for the state’s five electoral votes.

Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, arrives at a campaign rally at Albuquerque International Sunport Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

With time such a precious commodity for presidential campaigns and the clock quickly ticking toward Election Day, New Mexico Democrats said Trump’s trip to the state — his first in five years — is a fool’s errand.

“Trump is wasting his time coming to our state as polling shows New Mexicans are set to reject his MAGA extremism and divisive rhetoric yet again,” Democratic Party of New Mexico spokesperson Daniel Garcia claimed in a statement ahead of the former president’s trip.

Referring to the Oct. 31 stop in Albuquerque by the former president, Garcia took a verbal shot at Trump, saying “a rotund orange mass will be in Albuquerque on Halloween, and we’re not talking about a pumpkin.”

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Trump urged his supporters to get out and vote, saying, “New Mexico. Look, don’t make me waste a whole damn half a day here, OK.”

While the former president’s New Mexico rally five days before Election Day may not boost him in the battle for the state’s five electoral votes, it could boost Republicans down ballot.

Nella Domenici, the Republican Senate nominee in New Mexico, campaigns in Carlsbad, N.M., Oct. 29, 2024 (Nella Domenici Senate campaign)

Nella Domenici, the 2024 GOP Senate nominee and the daughter of New Mexico’s last Republican senator, is trying to defeat Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is running in November for a third six-year term, as her party works to win back the chamber’s majority.

“Trump is definitely going to help us with the independents,” Domenici predicted in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the former president’s visit. “People are really excited to have Trump come here.”

Domenici, who spoke at the Trump rally, emphasized that “it definitely excites the base hugely, and the base is kind of a growing term.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.