Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump described the fast-approaching Wisconsin primary as a must-win during a campaign rally Tuesday in the Badger State.
Speaking to voters in the Janesville, Wis., the hometown of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump said he wished he “would have devoted two more days to [campaign in] Ohio,” where he lost the state’s winner-take-all primary on March 15, and wouldn’t make the same mistake in Wisconsin.
“Frankly, I wish I would have left [Florida] two days earlier. I wish I would have devoted two more days to Ohio because I almost won in Ohio, but I didn’t want to take a chance on leaving my beautiful Florida,” the billionaire said.
“But I’m not going to have anything happen in Wisconsin,” he assured his supporters.
“We have to win. We have to put these politicians in their place folks,” Trump said.
Trump took a nine-day break from the campaign trail before arriving in Wisconsin on Tuesday for his rally. The leading GOP candidate plans to participate in back-to-back town halls on CNN and MSNBC Tuesday and Wednesday evening and will host another rally in Milwaukee, Wis., on Wednesday.
“I’ll be here all week,” Trump told the crowd Tuesday evening, after arriving more than hour late to the event.
The New York businessman is currently polling less than 1 percentage point behind Cruz in Wisconsin, according to the latest RCP average. He repeatedly hit the Texas senator at his rally Wednesday, particularly over his recent endorsement from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
“Cruz likes to talk about how he’s an outsider, [but] in the meantime, he gets all the establishment support,” Trump said. “Including your governor.”
Trump will appear on CNN at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday night for the town hall hosted by Anderson Cooper.
