BOSTON—A caravan of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stretched between two historic U.S. landmarks in Boston, Massachusetts, bringing a flash of red to one of the bluest areas in America.
The “President Trump’s America First Get Out & Vote Caravan” started early Sunday morning near the U.S.S. Constitution, which is docked at the end of The Freedom Trail at the Charlestown Navy Yard, just down the road from the Bunker Hill Monument.
The ship, also known as “Old Ironsides,” and the 221-foot-tall obelisk serve as reminders of the city’s role in America’s War of Independence. The group, which included Massachusetts Women for Trump, MA Black Voices for Trump, Jewish Voices for Trump, Latinos for Trump, and Italians for Trump, concluded its caravan at Castle Island in the Irish Catholic-rich neighborhoods of South Boston.
Castle Island is the oldest fortification military site in the United States and served as a strategic buttress against the British during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812.
The head organizer of the rally, former Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson, who is also President Trump’s Massachusetts campaign manager, told The Epoch Times that choosing a route between treasured symbols of American patriotism was, in part, a show of support for President Trump’s commitment to putting America first.
It was also, he said, meant as a reminder that Massachusetts is the “cradle of liberty” where people stood up for their country.
“Back during the days of the Revolutionary War, not everyone jumped on the horses, but those that did inspired others too,” said Mr. Hogdson “That’s what we are doing now.”
Chester Tam, another organizer of the event, told The Epoch Times that it was important to hold the rally ahead of the Massachusetts Super Tuesday primary to show those apprehensive about voting Republican in the otherwise seemingly ultra-Democratic state that they are not alone.
He said the group was confronted by only one heckler during the hours-long rally.
Mr. Tam and Mr. Hodgson said the rally’s main focus is the state’s unprecedentedly high number of independent voters which include 13,000 Democrats that unenrolled from their party since last year.
At a press conference, held Monday on the eve of the state’s Super Tuesday primary election, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said 484,000 of the state’s registered voters already voted, with about 90 percent doing so by mail and the rest participating in early voting.
He suggested that he expects to see a swell in support for President Trump at the polls. “I surely think particularly many of the Trump supporters tend to not want to vote by mail, that we will surely exceed 400,000 tomorrow,” he said.
As Massachusetts is an open primary state, independents can decide at the polls which party’s primary they want to participate in.
Mr. Hodgson said he expects the issue of illegal immigration to be the biggest influence in what side the state’s independents choose at the polls.
A national figure in the call for border reform, Mr. Hodgson made headline news when he made the controversial proposal to use prisoners to finish building President Trump’s border wall during his first bid for the presidency.
“I think there are a lot of moderate Democrats in the state of Massachusetts that have had it,” he said.
A recent Suffolk University poll showed that residents of the Bay State are almost evenly split on the illegal immigration controversy that has rocked Massachusetts during Governor Maura Healey’s administration.
Ms. Healey demonstrated her appeal to voters in the liberal state by becoming the first openly lesbian woman to be elected governor in the United States. In her landslide victory, she defeated the Republican contender, Geoff Diehl, by nearly a two-to-one margin.
But her administration’s appeal has been tarnished by her insistence that the state’s unique right to shelter law carries over to illegal immigrants. She has housed more than 7,500 of them around Boston to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Besides cost concerns, she has been accused of prioritizing the needs of illegal immigrants, over the safety of citizens, by housing them in a terminal at Logan Airport, which was the origin of two flights involved in the 9/11 attacks. She has also faced accusations of neglecting the homeless veterans visible throughout the city for decades while swiftly establishing overnight shelters for non-U.S. citizens.
Another immigration controversy in Massachusetts arose when the state allocated hotel rooms, long reserved for retired and active service members attending the annual iconic Army-Navy football game, to others. The game was being played for the first time at Gillette Stadium, the home turf of the New England Patriots.
Controversy arose again in January when Ms. Healey decisively repurposed a popular community recreational center in Boston’s historic Black neighborhood of Roxbury into another shelter for illegal immigrants.
The Suffolk University poll conducted in February, which showed a split on illegal immigration, gave President Trump a 12 percent lead over his GOP rival, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.
On Saturday, Ms. Haley appeared before a packed audience of about 400 attendees at a hotel in Needham, about 20 miles southwest of Boston.
Ms. Haley, who won her first primary in Washington on Monday, does have some influential backing in Massachusetts, including from Jonathan Kraft, president of the Kraft Group and son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Many, including David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, have also speculated that Ms. Haley could see a win in Massachusetts because of its high number of independents.
There are 40 delegates up for grabs in Massachusetts. Like Washington, whoever takes the majority vote in Massachusetts wins all the delegates.
