By Morgan Phillips | Fox News
President Trump kicked off a rapid-fire campaign push Wednesday night with a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, in an attempt to provide counter-programming to the Democrats’ highly anticipated debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Trump’s event at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum is the first of three rallies in three days. He won Arizona over Hillary Clinton in 2016 by about 3.5 percent, but Sen. Krysten Sinema, a moderate Democrat, narrowly defeated the incumbent Republican, Sen. Martha McSally, in 2018.
After Arizona, Trump is scheduled to take his tour to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday, and then Las Vegas on Friday, just before the critical Nevada caucuses Saturday.
Wednesday’s rally serves to counter the Democrats taking the debate stage, as Sen. Bernie Sanders recently surged to the forefront of the race and Mike Bloomberg’s heavily funded ad campaign has earned him his first debate appearance.
TRUMP BLASTS ‘FAKE’ POLLS, SAYS INTERNAL NUMBERS SHOW HIM BEATING OTHER 2020 DEMS
Supporters of the president showed up in droves to attend the rally, donning umbrellas to protect themselves from the Arizona sun as they waited hours to enter the stadium.
Trump blasted unspecified “fake news polls” earlier Wednesday, claiming his own internal polling showed him getting re-elected in November.
“Internal REAL Polls show I am beating all of the Dem candidates,” Trump tweeted. “The Fake News Polls (here we go again, just like 2016) show losing or tied. Their polls will be proven corrupt on November 3rd, just like the Fake News is corrupt!” It came after the ABC News/Washington Post survey was released, showing every major candidate among the Democrats beating Trump in general election matchups. That included former Vice President Joe Biden, Sanders and Bloomberg, all of whom polled at or above 50 percent in matchups with Trump.
A clip showing Trump supporters carrying a WWII veteran to his seat at the rally touched the hearts of many, with Fox 10’s Kari Lake admitting she “got a lump in her throat.”
Hours before the rally, in California, Trump signed a memorandum directing more of that state’s scarce water supply to farmers and other agriculture interests in the Central Valley, a Republican stronghold.
“For too long water authorities have flushed millions of gallons into the Pacific,” Trump said. “I ordered the administration to update outdated opinions which determined water allocation in this state.”
Fox News’ Sam Dorman and Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.
