WILDWOOD, N.J.—Don’t write off New Jersey as an easy win for Democrat President Joe Biden, urges Michael Byrne, a Republican who is pushing a grassroots effort to boost former President Donald Trump’s vote tallies here.
“Contrary to popular belief, New Jersey is not a hopelessly liberal state,” Mr. Byrne told The Epoch Times in advance of President Trump’s scheduled May 11 rally in this oceanside town.
“Tens of thousands” of Trump fans are expected to flock to the beach here, he said, possibly forming one of the biggest crowds of the 2024 presidential campaign. The event comes about midway through the former president’s criminal trial on New York business records charges.
Wildwood is a Trump-friendly slice of a state that has voted for Democrat presidential candidates consistently for decades.
The last GOP presidential candidate who won New Jersey was George H.W. Bush in 1988. The state also is home to one of President Trump’s most high-profile critics, former presidential contender and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Against this backdrop, pundits generally put New Jersey in the solidly “blue,” or Democrat, column.
Although President Trump lost New Jersey to then-candidate Joe Biden by 16 percentage points in 2020, he won the Wildwood area by a resounding 25 percentage points.
The region is home to U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 2020; he won re-election after doing so.
“Wildwood’s different ... it’s an old-fashioned place and a family-friendly town,” said Marco Patitucci, owner of Nantucket Inn & Suites, among many 1950s-and-'60s-style motels along Ocean Avenue.
Upon hearing confirmation of the rally about two weeks ago, Mr. Patitucci hung a Trump 2024 banner in the window of the motel’s office.
“Normally, I wouldn’t display something like this; I like to be neutral in my business,” Mr. Patitucci told The Epoch Times during a May 9 interview. Nevertheless, he decided to show his allegiance, welcoming the former president and his supporters in doing so.
Mr. Patitucci said that even though President Trump is a billionaire, he feels an affinity with his businesslike approach to government.
Many residents also appreciate the former president’s alignment with traditional conservative values, Mr. Patitucci said. A native of Philadelphia, he grew up in a Democrat household. But Mr. Patitucci says he rejects the Democrat Party’s shift to the far left.
Thus far, the Trump banner at Mr. Patitucci’s motel has drawn only one complaint: A Pennsylvania woman groused that she didn’t like the former president. “Everyone else has either been positive about it or just didn’t say anything,” Mr. Patitucci said.
Weather for May 11’s rally is forecast to be more hospitable, although somewhat chillier than normal, with temperatures in the 50s under cloudy skies.
Mr. Byrne, who has been involved in New Jersey politics for four decades, said he sees support for President Trump spreading to other parts of The Garden State. To maximize that potential, Mr. Byrne and his group are launching an initiative called “Project 14” on the day of the rally.
That name represents the number of Electoral College at stake in New Jersey. “We want to flip those 14 votes to President Trump,” Mr. Byrne said. To win the presidency, a candidate must earn 270 electoral votes, which are assigned based on state population and the “popular vote,” or total number of ballots cast.
Fourteen is also the number of additional voters that organizers ask each supporter to secure for President Trump, which is “not a heavy lift,” he said. “I think once people get into it, they’re gonna want to do even more than that. But that’s the initial ask.”
The Project 14 gathering is set for 11:30 a.m.- 3 p.m. Saturday at Uri’s Waterfront Restaurant, with free shuttles to the rally site nearby. President Trump’s speech is set for 5 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. The group will stress “get out the vote” and “protect the vote” for the Nov. 5 general election, which is expected to pit the incumbent president against the former one.
The new project is an outgrowth of about 15 grassroots rallies that the America First Republicans held across New Jersey earlier this year, Mr. Byrne said.
At those events, volunteers collected more than 9,000 signatures to get President Trump listed on the New Jersey ballot. That’s about triple the number of signatures that were collected for President Biden, Mr. Byrne said. He views that number as a barometer for a lack of enthusiasm for President Biden, adding that it also could signal that President Biden is taking a New Jersey win for granted.
The Biden campaign did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
Noting that the state has often been willing to elect Republican governors, Mr. Byrne said, “The state is getting more and more competitive.”
Mr. Byrne points out that national polls have detected voters’ growing discontent over the top two issues: the U.S. economy and immigration policies. In light of such concerns, Mr. Byrne thinks more New Jerseyans are now willing to give President Trump “a fresh look.”
New Jersey is unlikely to become a focal point for the Trump campaign, Mr. Byrne acknowledged. The campaign most likely will devote greater effort to genuine “swing states,” such as the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, he said.
But his group is “supplementing that effort,” Mr. Byrne said, adding that the goal is to tap into “tens of thousands of potential activists who have a genuine love for President Trump.”
“We’re gonna capitalize on that momentum,” Mr. Byrne said, “and hopefully help the president close the deal here in New Jersey.”
