'It's wonderful to see the atmosphere': Trump rally draws diverse crowd | Local News

Along with his twin brother Leo and his father Brian L'heureux, Aiden was one of thousands of participants who lined up early Thursday outside a private aircraft hangar at CSI Aviation near the Albuquerque International Sunport to attend a Trump rally against Lunch was planned.

The Santa Fe father and sons had driven to the event from Socorro, breaking off a deer hunting trip to attend. They still wore camouflage clothing — paired with red “Trump Vance 2024” T-shirts and hats — as they waited in line.

Brian L'heureaux marveled at the large number of Trump supporters who attended the rally.

The event came just five days before the closely contested presidential election, in which Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, is leading Trump in the polls. But as the gap between candidates has narrowed nationwide, some argue that New Mexico — a state that hasn't been in the red in a presidential election in 20 years — could still be in play.

“It's wonderful to see how much momentum there has been in the last few weeks … especially when you come out and see a crowd like that,” he said. “In New Mexico we are traditionally so Democratic that a surge like this should actually send a message to people and politicians.”

The rally drew a diverse crowd of several thousand enthusiastic supporters – many of whom had waited in freezing temperatures overnight and for hours early in the morning. There were few protesters outside the venue and no clashes broke out, although Trump paused his speech for several minutes while emergency responders attended to a rally attendee who had suffered a medical incident.

Leticia Muñoz, executive director of the Republican Party of New Mexico, estimated total attendance at nearly the venue's capacity of 7,800.

Former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez was among the rally participants. She said she felt “the energy and enthusiasm of all the Trump supporters” in the state.

Asked whether polls show Harris leading in New Mexico, Martinez said Trump won't give up easily.

“You never take anything for granted when you run for office, and Trump will fight to the end for every single vote,” she said. “And since he's at the forefront of Latino men, I want to say, 'Latino women, join us, support our country and turn it around and make our country better than ever.' ”

State Department data shows that Democratic voters in New Mexico so far far outnumber Republicans in early and absentee voting. Nearly 530,000 of the state's 1.3 million voters had cast ballots as of Thursday morning, including nearly 251,000 Democrats and about 194,000 Republicans. In heavily Democratic Santa Fe County, more than 53,600 voters cast ballots, more than 37,000 of them Democrats.

Trump's last visit to New Mexico was a rally in Rio Rancho in 2019.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the Trump campaign racked up a nearly $445,000 unpaid bill to the city for the visit, including for police services and employee furloughs, after he “forcibly closed down the downtown area for a full day.” “just so he could spend the night there.” the DoubleTree.”

Thursday's visit also caused disruption in Albuquerque, with traffic on Interstate 25 causing significant slowdowns and Sunport airline passengers being warned to leave early.

Dozens of Trump supporters abandoned their vehicles along the way and decided to walk the final mile and a half to the venue. Among them was David Acuña of Rio Rancho, who said he decided to walk after sitting in traffic for a few hours.

Acuña, 77, said he thought about turning around for a “millisecond” and returning home.

Emily Quinn and her sister Melanie Johnson, as well as friends Alexis Higgins and Lacy Nelson, traveled from Amarillo, Texas, to the rally and said they were in line at 4:30 a.m. Thursday. The foursome ended up in front of the podium.

“He’s the best president we’ve ever had,” Quinn said as the crowd waited for Trump to arrive. “When he was president, we had low inflation, low taxes (and) much, much more money in our pockets.”

Quinn said the country is “hopeful” under a Trump presidency.

“We have no hope left,” she said.

Johnson said their “prayers were answered” when they found out about the rally in Albuquerque. “This is our Taylor Swift Eras Tour,” she said.

“He’s way better than Taylor Swift,” Higgins said. “Much better.”

Eugene Burditt of Wagon Wheel, east of Moriarty, said he was in line at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

“I was here all night standing in a circle,” said Burditt, who held a banner that read “I have post-traumatic stress disorder – pretty tired of stupid Democrats.”

“This is my first time at an event like this and I thought I would come out and do it right,” he said. “I’m having fun.”

Burditt, 67, described himself as a die-hard Trump supporter.

“Trump solved our problems the first time,” he said. “He's been robbed of his choice for the second time, so now he's ready to finally see it through.”

Rally attendee Sherry Bachicha of Santa Fe said she has been a Trump supporter since 2016.

“My son wanted to come, so he asked me to bring him, and that's why I'm here,” she said, referring to her 12-year-old son, Troy.

“He’s one of those kids that just loves America,” she added.

Bachicha, a Republican married to a Democrat, said she already voted for Trump.

Toward the end of the line for the event — not far from where buses brought Trump supporters to the venue from several parking lots in the area — a few dozen people gathered to protest, many of them members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation .

They raised signs that read, “No hate in our state,” “Nov. 5 Trash Day” and simply “Go away.”

Ramona Malczynski reached for the megaphone.

“We are here today because we want to say that the measures proposed by Trump are not the real solutions for the working class. … All he does is ensure that billionaires get more and more of the wealth that we produce as workers in this country,” Malczynski said.

Some wore keffiyehs, a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, and their chants lamented the response of both the Republican and Democratic parties to the war between Israel and Hamas.

“The people waiting in line to see Trump are not our enemies,” Malczynski continued. “Trump is our enemy. Harris is our enemy. We are here to say, 'Join the real people's movement.' ”

Brent Morris of Albuquerque came to the Trump rally wearing an American flag suit — but unlike the other flag bearers in attendance, he said he is not a Trump supporter.

“Trump is a fearmonger. We had him for four years; I don’t want another four years of his vision of America,” Morris said.

Morris was not present with a specific group of protesters. Rather, he said that he felt compelled to come and that he needed to see the crowd with his own eyes.

He made a trip to a Halloween costume store on Wednesday to pick up the flag suit and a zombie mask. He also wore a red cap on which he wrote: “Make America Ghouls Again.”

The turnout was “a little scary,” Morris said.

“I feel sorry for these people,” he said. “I feel like they are falling for his lies and his anti-immigrant stance. This is an exploitation of all the basest instincts of… isolationist America.”

A Trump supporter shouted words of encouragement to Morris as he stood near the rally venue.

Morris shouted back: “Vote for Kamala.”