Updated: 10/20/2023
Trump to Hold Competing Rally Near 3rd GOP Debate
Dueling events in Florida may not only affect the ratings for a debate but its attendance level as well.
Republican voters in the Miami area will have their pick of two high-profile political events on Nov. 8.
As other GOP presidential hopefuls take the stage that night for the party’s third primary debate in Miami, a nearby rally for former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate, will already be underway.
The rally, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, will be held at Ted Hendricks Stadium in Hialeah—just 10 miles from the debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
The debate is set to air at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
Since announcing his candidacy last November, President Trump has held a steady lead in the Republican primary race. Yet despite qualifying for all three debates, he has yet to attend one.
“He said he’s not going to attend the debates, plural. And that’s his position—until it’s not,” senior Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita told reporters on Sept. 27 after the second debate.
The debates, he added, had started to look more like a contest for “who’s going to be the designated survivor.”
While other qualifying candidates gathered that night at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, President Trump delivered a speech to striking autoworkers at a rally just outside Detroit.
The 45th president has repeatedly said that he sees no reason to participate in the debates, given his substantial edge over the rest of the Republican field.
And he may have a point. Since the first debate on Aug. 23, he’s risen nearly 4 points in the polls, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
His counterprogramming for that event was a pre-recorded interview with Tucker Carlson that was released just before the debate started.
The latest move, however, is the first he has made that may not only have an effect on the ratings for a debate but also its attendance level.
In 2020, President Trump won the state of Florida by more than 3 points. And despite the popularity of fellow GOP contender Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the state, the former president is still the preferred candidate of Florida Republicans by more than 10 points.
That fact—combined with President Trump’s unfailing ability to draw crowds wherever he goes—could mean another disappointing event for the GOP following a messy second debate.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-to-hold-competing-rally-near-3rd-gop-debate-5514279