Republican nominee Donald Trump is set to hold his first public campaign rally since an assassination attempt a week ago. The event will take place in a crucial Rust Belt battleground state, Michigan, with his new running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
The former US president is returning to the campaign trail after the attempted killing at a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday. A 20-year-old gunman opened fire, injuring Trump and others and killing one rally-goer. The shooting has heightened tensions in an already contentious race, marked by fears of rising political violence and civil unrest. It also dominated last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, from which Trump emerged leading a unified and energized campaign.
Tonight’s rally in Grand Rapids, a historically Republican stronghold that has leaned increasingly Democratic in recent elections, will be the first joint event for Trump and Vance since they officially became the nominees. Trump began the rally by announcing Vance as his vice-presidential pick.
Michigan is one of the pivotal swing states expected to influence the presidential election outcome. Trump narrowly won the state by just over 10,000 votes in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden flipped it back in 2020, winning by a margin of 154,000 votes.
With Vance by his side, Trump aims to appeal to Rust Belt voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio, who were instrumental in his surprise 2016 victory. Vance highlighted these areas during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, emphasizing his roots in small-town Ohio and his commitment to working-class people whose “jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war.”
Although Democrats have dominated recent elections in Michigan, Republicans now see an opportunity as Democrats remain divided over whether Biden should continue his candidacy. Biden has insisted he is not dropping out and has attempted to refocus attention on Trump, stating on Friday that Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention showcased a “dark vision for the future.”
In polls over the past week, Trump has extended his narrow lead over Biden, though the race remains close overall. Trump continues to perform strongly in crucial battleground states vital for victory, and his campaign claims the contest is expanding to include states like Virginia, which Democrats previously considered safe.
On Friday, Trump announced he had spoken by telephone with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, pledging to end the European country’s war with Russia. “I appreciate President Zelensky for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”
The United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military assistance to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, though a Trump victory in the November election would put Washington’s continued support into question.
Zelensky confirmed the call, during which he congratulated Trump on formally becoming the Republican Party’s presidential nominee and wished the 78-year-old well after the assassination attempt. “We agreed with President Trump to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting,” Zelensky said in a post on X. “I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence.”
