After President-elect Donald Trump delivered surprising gains for the GOP in New Jersey and Virginia last week, Republicans are claiming both states as new battleground territories. 

Trump swept all seven swing states to win the Electoral College and the popular vote during the 2024 presidential election. However, it wasn’t just the battlegrounds he dominated. Trump also shifted New Jersey and Virginia to the right. While a Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won either state in decades, Trump realigned the political map to build what he described as “the biggest, the broadest, the most unified coalition” that came within single digits of flipping both states red.