Donald Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27. (Credit: Alex Foster)
As bright red hats swamped the streets of a deep blue city for the best part of twelve hours, Donald Trump took to the stage on Oct. 27 during a final push of his presidential campaign.
“You’re with me. We’ve always been together,” he told the audience of more than 19,000 supporters inside the at-capacity Madison Square Garden. “And I’d like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
It wasn’t Trump’s first time asking that question in New York. Despite two previous campaigns for the presidency in 2016 and 2020, he neglected to campaign in the state, which voted overwhelmingly for his opponents Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden during those years. In September, though, Trump held a rally on Long Island — his first large-scale event in the state over his three campaigns.
And his Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden, which featured a line-up of notable Republicans from New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to House Speaker Mike Johnson and X CEO Elon Musk, aimed to continue the campaign’s increased focus in New York. It marked the beginning of the end for the former president’s third campaign for the White House: with a little more than a week until voters go to the polls on Nov. 5, and following a Times/Siena poll that suggested neck-and-neck levels of national support against Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s rallies in New York looked to engage and reinvigorate the enthusiasm he needs to win.
“It’s a beautiful turn out,” said Denis Whelan, 22, as he waited in line with supporters. “Come on, it’s Madison Square Garden! Donald Trump built this city in the 80s and 90s. You gotta support him somehow.”
Susan Daly shared similar support at September’s Uniondale rally. “That’s my man in the building. That’s my man! I love Donald Trump,” she said, referencing the huge line outside the stadium as proof of Trump’s popularity. “Trump knows he’s gonna get everybody’s vote here. For the media to disguise it as anything other than that, it’s disgusting,” she said.
Stalls and trolleys peddled Trump hats and badges and flags ahead of the Uniondale rally. But though the Trump campaign’s New York rallies had strong visible support, they had different goals.
“New York is solidly blue, so I think it’s a fantasy they’re going to change the electoral vote,” said Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York State Democratic Party, when asked about the impetus for Trump’s Sept. 18 visit.
But Trump hasn’t been aiming for New York’s 28 electoral college votes during his two rallies.
The rally in Long Island had a clear aim: to shore up support for congressional candidates. In 2022 Republicans flipped control of the House of Representatives. And their path to doing so ran through New York. They won control of all four seats on Long Island, with George Santos (NY-03) and Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04) winning in upset victories as Nassau County swung right. Trump’s Uniondale rally, then, appeared to be aimed at shoring up control of these all-important House districts – and with it maintaining Republican control of the House.
As County Executive Bruce Blakeman put it to the roaring crowd of 16,000 inside Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum: “Welcome to Woodstock, Nassau County style. We love peace and Donald Trump!” The at-capacity stadium featured a variety of local Republican politicians, including D’Esposito and Republican challenger for NY-03, Mike LiPetri.
Not everyone outside the Long Island rally was as impressed. A solemn crowd of around 50 Haitian Americans had gathered to protest Trump’s claim, during his single televised debate with Harris, that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Ohio.
“I refuse to allow the Haitian community to be used as a political football,” said Carrié Solages, a Haitian legislator in Nassau County. “How dare [Trump] use my beautiful culture for political purposes.”
Haitians were not the only protestors. Standing in solidarity with them were four lone but vocal Democrats. Kerry Miller, a resident of nearby Levittown, had traveled to Uniondale to protest Trump’s rhetoric.
“The hatred he spews towards everybody; we can’t live like that again,” she said. Holding up a sign that read “Vote for the prosecutor, not the felon,” Miller said she was shocked that a candidate with 34 felony convictions was still commanding level support from the American public against Kamala Harris.
“If we don’t vote Democrat, this country is gone. It’s not gonna be someplace I want to live,” Miller said. She said already felt alienated as the lone supporter of the Democrats on her road in Levittown. “I’m not putting a sign up because I’d definitely be targeted,” she continued, adding that in 2020 she had a family member who said “if I hung my Biden sign outside, he’d burn it down.”
If Trump’s Uniondale rally intended to shore up Republican support on Long Island, his star-studded Madison Square Garden event appeared to have a different aim: a campaign press release stated that the rally would “be a showcase of the historic political movement that President Trump has built in the final days of the campaign.” Trump himself stated on local radio show Cats and Cosby that the event was “going to be a celebration of the whole thing. On the speakers’ line-up were Elise Stefanik, Mike Johnson, J.D. Vance and Elon Musk; all had spoken in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, and all were intended to show New Yorkers that they weren’t outnumbered in a blue state.
“I feel like Trump is going to win,” said Noelle DePaula, a 68-year-old voice actor from Brooklyn. Suggesting that “Biden and Kamala were an unmitigated disaster,” she said that “the country is on the wrong track. Looking around, it seems like other people agree with me.”
Brooklyn resident Chad Hughes agreed. “The line is a lot of fun, a lot of people, the enthusiasm is there,” he said. Gesturing around at the supporters packed into the metal barriers, he laughed. “Everyone wants Trump to be president and he should be,” he said.
As multiple lines queued around 34th Street to enter the stadium, single cries of “USA! USA!” quickly morphed into unified chants from supporters. Decked out in MAGA hats and American flags, some supporters said they waited in line since 8 a.m. to have a chance of seeing the former president.
And Trump delivered for his New York supporters inside the stadium. “I’m thrilled to be back in the city I love,” he said.
“November 5 will be the most important day in the history of our country,” he said as his speech wrapped up.
About the author(s)
Alex Foster is a journalist from London specializing in politics reporting at Columbia Journalism School.