close
close

Trump votes in Palm Beach, says this campaign was the best

Trump votes in Palm Beach, says this campaign was the best

play

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Former President Donald Trump voted in person on Tuesday and said he felt this was the best of his three campaigns for president.

“I think we’re going to have a very big victory today,” he said Tuesday after he and his wife and former first lady Melania Trump voted at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center on Seaview Avenue in Palm Beach.

trump card ran for president in 2016 and won, then ran and lost in 2020 and is now running against the Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I feel very confident. Looks like the Republicans are showing up in force. I think it was maybe the best of the three,” he said, wearing his usual blue blazer, no tie, and red Make America Great Again hat.

“We ran a great campaign.”

After the vote, Trump spoke for more than 10 minutes to members of the media gathered in the Recreation Center gymnasium.

The No. 1 issue for voters, Trump said, was immigration.

“We want people to come to our country, but they have to come legally,” he said. “We want strong borders.”

“We want to bring everyone in, we want to be inclusive and we’re going to be very inclusive. We have a country that is in trouble. It has big problems in many ways. We have to straighten them out.”

Asked if he would discourage violence from his supporters, Trump dismissed the question.

“My supporters are not violent people. I don’t have to tell them that,” he said, adding, “I certainly don’t want violence, but certainly — these are great people. These are people who do not believe in violence. Contrary to your question, you believe in violence,” he told the reporter.

Trump said he and Melania would stop by his campaign offices in West Palm Beach to thank workers there before returning to Mar-a-Lago.

Trump said he had not yet written a speech for Tuesday night, noting that he had given several speeches over the past two days as he packed last-minute rallies into his campaign finale schedule.

“I’ve been giving a lot of speeches. You can probably tell,” he said, referring to the hoarseness in his voice. “I’m not a Democrat. I can give a speech pretty quickly. If I win, I know what I’m going to say. And I don’t even want to think about the losing side.”

Trump reminded Republicans who might be in line to vote to stay in line.

On Tuesday morning, security around the Recreation Center was tight, with a public parking lot on Royal Palm Way closed ahead of Trump’s arrival and a line of white tents forming a tunnel from that parking lot to the south entrance of the headquarters. voting.

Supporters of the former president also gathered outside the Recreation Center ahead of his arrival on Tuesday. Some stood on a wall outside Palm Beach Public Elementary School, while others waited near the Recreation Center’s tennis courts. Some tennis players paused their games as they waited for Trump to appear.

Other voters scheduled to vote Tuesday were able to enter through the north side of the Recreation Center. A trio of parking spaces on Seaview Avenue have been marked with signs and traffic barricades as 30-minute spots for voters only.

Trump said he will watch the election results with “a special group of people” at Mar-a-Lago, then attend the Election Night campaign viewing party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach at 10 p.m.: 00.

Palm Beach Post policy editor Antonio Fins contributed to this report.