Donald Trump will make his return to the crucial battleground state of Ohio on Tuesday, more than three months after losing the Buckeye State primary to a man who has yet to endorse him.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is slated to host a campaign rally Tuesday evening in St. Clairsville, a small town belonging to one of 34 counties he won in the March 15 nominating contest. The rally will come hours after Trump delivers a major speech about trade and the U.S. economy in Western Pennsylvania.
The back-to-back visits to Ohio come weeks after Hillary Clinton kicked off her general election campaign in the state. The presumptive Democratic nominee returned on Monday for her first appearance with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive icon who’s long been the subject of vice presidential speculation.
Clinton attended a fundraiser at the home of Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley last weekend where her campaign hauled in more than $400,000.
“Yesterday, Hillary Clinton was in my state with my friend Elizabeth Warren by her side talking about the importance of boosting American manufacturing and creating new jobs,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said on a press call organized by Clinton’s campaign on Tuesday afternoon.
“It was a very different speech from the one we can expect to hear from Donald Trump in Eastern Ohio tonight,” Brown added.
Trump will spend Tuesday playing catch up in Ohio, while Clinton campaigns in Colorado — a state that could carry her to victory in November. The billionaire is trailing Clinton by 3 percentage points in the Buckeye State and had virtually no ground operation there until late last week, when his campaign hired veteran Republican campaign operative Bob Paduchik to serve as Ohio state director.
An abysmal electoral filing at the beginning of June showed Trump trailing his Democratic opponent not just in the polls, but in fundraising as well. The Trump campaign’s cash crisis is one of the reasons why Trump will return to Ohio next Wednesday for a high-dollar fundraiser in Cincinnati. Ticket prices at the event will range from $2,700 to $25,000, with attendees who opt for the more expensive ticket being invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with the candidate.
“It’s an indication that he’s working hand in hand with the Republican National Committee, and they’re getting their operation rolling in Ohio,” GOP state chairman Matt Borges assured The Cincinnati Enquirer.
But not every party leader in Ohio is eager to help Trump pull off a victory in the state, which no Republican has gone on to win the White House without.
Republican Gov. John Kasich, who beat Trump in Ohio’s March 15 primary, has repeatedly declined to endorse Trump and recently indicated he has no intention of doing so before next month’s’ convention.
“I know as governor of Ohio, with some people who pound on me, I said I’m not prepared to do it and he’s going to have to change,” Kasich told MSNBC in mid-June. “But we’ll see where it ends up. I’m not making any final decision yet, but at this point, I just can’t do it.”
