GOSSVILLE, New Hampshire — President Donald Trump is due to address a rally in New Hampshire on Thursday evening — and seventeen miles away from the arena, vendors are selling Trump merchandise to passersby.
Phil Colwell of Tennessee told Breitbart News that he and his crew have set up multiple sites to cash in on the rush of Trump supporters to the South New Hampshire University Arena, which has a seating capacity of just under 12,000 people.
“My crew down there [at the arena] says it’s jam-packed already,” he told Breitbart at 2:30 p.m. EDT, before the 7:00 p.m. scheduled start of the rally. “They stayed overnight.”
Trump’s rally comes after two of his three main rivals, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), campaigned across the state this week. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is due to arrive in the Granite State this weekend.
Sanders and Warren both drew packed crowds at their events — albeit in the hundreds, not the thousands.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won New Hampshire in 2016, despite Trump’s earnest efforts to win the state, including a rally the night before Election Day.
However, Republicans are hopeful that with rapid economic improvements in the state — including one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation — voters will back the president.
Currently the race among Democrats is a three-way contest between Sanders, Warren, and former vice president Joe Biden, who is currently vacationing in the Caribbean.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.