Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is headlining a hometown rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.
Trump, born in Queens, New York, likely won’t win the dark-blue Empire State on Election Day. But the campaign stop will mark one of the last major moments of the former president’s reelection bid.
The 78-year-old presidential candidate is being joined at the iconic venue by a long list of his top supporters, from running mate JD Vance and other top Republican lawmakers to SpaceX founder Elon Musk and UFC CEO Dana White.
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s live coverage from the campaign trail.
More: Trump heads to Madison Square Garden for a closing campaign act
How many people are at Trump rally? The number is hard to know
Madison Square Garden can hold more than 20,000 people for boxing events and typically welcomes more than 19,000 for NHL and NBA games. But it’s not clear if all of the seats will be available for Trump’s Sunday rally, due to security and other factors.
Tickets to Trump rallies are also commonly first-come, first-served with no assigned seats. So, the number of tickets issued doesn’t always equal the number of attendees.
More: How many people are at Trump rally? The number is hard to know
− Shane Brennan
Ramaswamy: ‘New York is a swing state‘
Trump’s rally in New York has some prominent people questioning his election strategy nine days before the election.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy told the crowd at Madison Square Garden rally that he heard from a billionaire friend on Sunday morning questioning why the Republican presidential nominee is holding an event in deep blue New York so close to Election Day on Nov. 5.
The friend, according to Ramaswamy, asked: “Why in the hell are you guys wasting your time in New York City instead of going to a swing state?”
Ramaswamy responded: “New York is a swing state.”
Trump lost New York by large margins in 2020 and 2016, but the crowd loved Ramaswamy’s remarks. He ran against Trump in the 2024 GOP primaries but got huge applause from the moment he took the stage.
– Zac Anderson
Where is Kamala Harris appearing on Sunday?
As Trump holds a major rally at Madison Square Garden, Kamala Harris has a packed day campaigning in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
The Democratic presidential nominee kicked off her schedule with a Sunday morning church service at The Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia.
Just blocks from the church, Harris also made a stop at a barbershop, Philly Cuts, in an attempt to appeal to Black men. Harris has seen a drop of support from Black and Latino men, according to multiple polls. She also sat down for an interview with Walter Perez for 6abc Action News at the shop. After the stop at the barbershop, Harris dropped into a local bookstore.
Harris also made her way across Philadelphia and spoke at a Puerto Rican restaurant called Freddy and Tony’s Restaurant. Her campaign released an “opportunity economy” agenda for Puerto Rico on Sunday that would focus on creating economic opportunities on the island and improving the electrical grid.
– Rebecca Morin and Joey Garrison
How to watch Trump’s Madison Square rally
No, you don’t need a cable subscription to watch Donald Trump’s New York City rally. It will be livestreamed online.
− Marina Pitofsky
Trump backers turn NYC into a sea of red MAGA hats for ‘historic’ rally
They camped out overnight, packed the subways, turned the skyscraper-enclosed streets into a river of red MAGA hats and paraded cars and trucks laden with Donald Trump flags through the heart of the Big Apple.
The Republican presidential nominee was in town and his “Make America Great Again” supporters were out in force to show that even in the bluest part of one of the bluest states they are a movement to be reckoned with.
Trump’s image blazed on the jumbotrons outside Madison Square Garden with the words “Dream Big Again!” and his supporters were dreaming about Trump back in the White House, propelled over the finish line by the rally Sunday at one of the world’s iconic arenas.
“Good, bad, whatever, it’s historical and something to witness,” said Mike Zarro, a 28-year-old tow truck driver from Long Island who told USA TODAY he’d set out for Manhattan in the pre-dawn hours to make it to the Trump rally.
North Carolina retiree Bill Robinson, 65, said he has been to 53 Trump rallies since 2015. As for Trump at Madison Square Garden, Robinson said that it would be “the granddaddy of them all” while camping out Saturday afternoon near the arena and the first person in a line that would stretch across a whole city block by the next morning.
“Fifty percent of the rally is Trump, the rest of it is hanging around like-minded people,” said Robinson.
Near Robinson, Pennsylvania truck driver Richard Everit, 59, waved a Trump flag and exchanged fist bumps with passersby who offered words of support for the former president.
Everit said he never voted until he cast his first ballot for Trump in 2020. The incumbent Republican president at the time “opened my eyes.” Now, he said he wears Trump gear wherever he goes.
– Zac Anderson
Trump friend announces bid for NYC mayor at MSG rally
Trump childhood friend David Rem used the former president’s rally at Madison Square Garden Sunday to announce a bid for mayor of New York City.
“We need to make New York red,” Rem said.
Rem also vouched for Trump as a religious man, saying he “knows that Jesus Christ is king” and said the former president’s critics are doing everything to stop him.
“They don’t want to face Donald Trump at the ballot box so they’ll do anything they can, imprison him, kill him,” Rem said.
-Zac Anderson
The Harris-Trump race is as tight as possible
How close is this race?
As close as it can get in the popular vote without actually being tied, according to one measure.
The Real Clear Politics average of recent national polls gives Trump a lead over Harris of 48.5% to 48.4% – i.e., a 0.1 percentage difference. That’s well within the margin of error for each of the surveys included in the average.
Polls in the seven battleground states that will decide the Electoral College – and the presidency – are almost all within the margin of error.
−David Jackson
Trump rally at Madison Square Garden features Elon Musk, Dana White: See full speaker list
Here’s the speaker lineup for the Sunday, Oct. 27, rally in support of Donald Trump, according to the Trump campaign:
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JD Vance, Republican vice presidential nominee
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Speaker Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives
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Rep. Elise Stefanik
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Rep. Byron Donalds
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat and four-term congresswoman
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Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Associate Attorney General of the United States and Mayor of New York City
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former presidential candidate
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Lara Trump, co-chair, the Republican National Committee
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Eric Trump, son of former President Trump
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Donald Trump Jr., son of former President Donald Trump
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Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla
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Dan Scavino, senior advisor to former President Trump
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Stephen Miller, senior advisor to former President Trump
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Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
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Tucker Carlson, host of The Tucker Carlson Show
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Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute
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Steve Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group
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Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of the Trump 2024 Transition Team
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Grant Cardone, CEO, 10X
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Sergio Gor, Right for America PAC
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Michael Harris Jr., co-founder of Death Row Records
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Tiffany Justice, founder of Moms for Liberty
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Lee Greenwood, singer
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Christopher Macchio, opera singer
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Mary Millben, singer
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Sid Rosenberg, New York radio personality
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Tony Hinchcliffe, comedian and host of “Kill Tony” podcast
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Scott Lobaido, live painter
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David Rem, childhood friend of former President Trump
−Mike Snider
More: Trump-aligned group is already planning lawsuits over election results
Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally is a closing campaign act
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Sunday is set to use one of the biggest stages in the nation’s biggest city to take one of his final swings in the razor-tight 2024 race for the White House.
It’s a classic Trump move to throw a splashy campaign event at a venue that bills itself as “The World’s Most Famous Arena” – Madison Square Garden. Also in classic Trump fashion, it is a strategic decision that’s perplexing to seasoned political types who question why the former president would focus his limited time and resources as the clock ticks toward Election Day on Nov. 5 to travel to a seemingly safe Democratic state like New York.
Trump and his aides say there are good reasons to do this rally on the presidential campaign’s penultimate weekend. His command of the media and ability to attract eyeballs has always been pivotal to his success – and a hallmark of his fame starting out in New York in the 1980s.
That’s an essential ingredient he’s looking to keep on capturing in his race against Kamala Harris, who brought new energy and her own wave of positive press since catapulting to the top of the Democratic ticket this summer upon President Joe Biden’s decision to only serve one term.
−Zac Anderson and David Jackson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election 2024 live updates: Trump holds Madison Square Garden rally
