Trump postpones New Hampshire rally over tropical storm

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FILE - In this March 28, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

MIAMI — President Donald Trump is postponing his planned rally Saturday in New Hampshire, the White House said, citing a tropical storm threatening parts of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters traveling to Florida with the president on Friday that the event — slated to be held in an aircraft hangar in Portsmouth — would be delayed by a week or two. She cited the threat of Tropical Storm Fay, which is expected to bring rain to the region.

“The rally scheduled for Saturday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has been postponed for safety reasons because of Tropical Storm Fay,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement. “It will be rescheduled and a new date will be announced soon.”

Unlike the one in Tulsa, which was held indoors, the rally in Portsmouth was to be partially outdoors, held in an airplane hangar open on one side with the crowd spilling out onto the tarmac before Air Force One.

“All of Donald Trump’s rallies and all of his events are electric,” said campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley. “The president wants to go in there and talk about all the accomplishments he’s done in his first term and how he’s made people’s lives better.”

Trump narrowly lost New Hampshire in 2016 and the state is on a short list along with Minnesota and New Mexico that the Trump campaign hopes to flip from blue to red.

The Trump campaign has also been eager to return to the road to draw a contrast with Biden, whom it’s painted as being marooned in the basement of his Delaware home. Biden has been unapologetic about conducting online fundraisers and campaign events from makeshift television studios at his house.