Trump touts plays for deep-blue states in final campaign push

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted the growing size of his crowds and reiterated that he would work to flip longtime Democratic states in light of his growing popularity.

"We're going to make a play. We're going to make a play for New York. Hasn't been done in long time. It hasn't been done in many decades," Trump said at a recent rally in Scranton, Pa. "So we're going to go Madison Square Garden... We're going to go the arena in Atlanta, if we can get it, we're going to go the arena in New Jersey."

He went on to point to other states that Republicans have not carried in decades, saying "we're making a play for New Jersey. We're making a play for Virginia. We're making a play for New York, New Mexico."

A Republican last won Virginia and New Mexico in 2004, when President George W. Bush secured reelection. A Republican last won New Jersey in 1989, when George H.W. Bush won it. New York broke for President Ronald Reagan in 1984, when every state but Minnesota supported him.

Trump, however, further asserted that he could win Minnesota, which hasn't supported a Republican since President Richard Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign.

"Minnesota [where that] lunatic comes from, I'm doing well," he said in reference to Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn. "You know why I'm doing well in Minnesota? Because he's running. [It's] actually supposed to be the opposite way, right?"

Trump has previously insisted he can win Democratic-leaning states, particularly focusing on New York and New Jersey as both buckle under the influx of illegal border crossers.