Trump to ramp up 2024 campaign with South Carolina visit

Former president to venture out after a low-key start to his third White House bid.

Former President Donald Trump officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign last year. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump will make his first campaign visit to an early GOP primary state later this month as he seeks to propel what has been a low-key start to a 2024 White House bid.

The former president is scheduled to travel to Columbia, South Carolina on January 28, according to people involved in the planning, who described it as a smaller event with supporters rather than the large rallies he is known for.

The campaign is also expected to soon announce the first in a series of policy-focused forums on border security, crime, foreign policy and other topics.

Larger rallies aren’t expected until later this year as the campaign builds out teams in key states. The campaign’s headquarters will be in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Mr Trump’s senior advisers convened there last week to plot the next steps.

“The campaign has been building out its infrastructure and expanding its team for the past few months — doing the necessary work that may not always be public-facing,” spokesman Steven Cheung said. “This is the perfect time to start doing events in early primary states like South Carolina and show that President Trump is the only one who can stop the left’s radical agenda and take back the White House.”

After announcing his campaign on November 15, Mr Trump started off with little public activity. That light schedule invited scrutiny from fellow Republicans over his strategy, though aides say the plan was never to immediately go on the road. It also came as polls showed his status as leader of the Republican Party and of the prospective 2024 field suffered through the losses of some high-profile candidates he endorsed in the mid-term elections, controversies he spurred and continuing legal woes.

Among Mr Trump’s legal worries is the Justice Department investigation of classified documents improperly stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. But questions facing President Joe Biden’s storage of classified records — including the revelation Thursday that some were found in the garage of his Delaware home — could complicate the matter. The former president and his advisers see a political upside in Mr Biden facing his own documents controversy, though there are significant differences between the cases.

Mr Biden has said that he intends to run for re-election but that he hasn’t made a final decision, and his advisers are planning for a likely campaign.

While Mr Trump remains the only declared GOP candidate, numerous Republicans are exploring a run. Last week, former vice-president Mike Pence visited the sprawling Villages retirement community in Florida as part of a book tour, and he has made a number of visits to early states, including Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest.

A programming packet for an Iowa legislative kick-off breakfast last Monday featured ads from former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

“It’s definitely heating up,” said Iowa state GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann. “People are ready for it. This is going to be a fair playing field.”

Mr Trump paid for a two-page ad that recalled his quixotic 2016 campaign and how his first state visit was to Iowa. “Together, let’s finish what we started,” it read.

He came in second to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in Iowa’s caucuses nearly seven years ago — falsely claiming the contest was stolen — but gathered momentum and beat 16 rivals for the nomination, leading a major reshaping of party orthodoxy on issues including trade, immigration and foreign policy.

That imprint remains strong, even as many Republicans haven’t rushed to back Mr Trump’s latest campaign.

Mr Trump’s initial focus on policy events rather than large-scale rallies is aimed at reminding voters of the ideas he advanced during his time in office, which remain popular among Republicans even if his personal style isn’t. A Wall Street Journal poll published in December showed roughly 90 per cent of Republicans approved of the job he did as president, compared with 71 per cent who viewed him favourably as a person.

His 2024 campaign strategy rests on another large field — though likely smaller than the 2016 crop — of candidates who would dilute the non-Trump vote while the former president maintains his most avid supporters. His advisers remain most concerned about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who runs second to or tops Mr Trump in many polls of hypothetical match-ups.

Mr DeSantis, who is publishing a memoir in late February, is widely expected to enter the race sometime after the state legislative session ends in May. He has been a prolific fundraiser and has attracted some of the major donors who had previously given to Mr Trump.

The visit to South Carolina, earlier reported by Politico, signals the importance Mr Trump’s team sees in affirming his ties to a key state that is home to potential rivals. He has already been endorsed by Governor Henry McMaster, but Senator Scott, one of the country’s most prominent Black Republicans, has shown interest in seeking higher office and former governor Nikki Haley is actively considering a run.

“If a candidate thinks they can come to South Carolina and hammer 800,000 Republicans into voting a certain way, they have another thing coming,” said former state GOP chairman Matt Moore. “It’s a wide-open race.”

The Wall Street Journal