Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are slated to appear in New Hampshire next Tuesday, participating in different events.
Both Republican presidential hopefuls have events scheduled in the early primary state next week. DeSantis, who has already blitzed the state since announcing his presidential bid last month, is reportedly holding a town hall event in Hollis, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.
Trump, meanwhile, is listed as the special guest at the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s 76th Lilac Luncheon, which is taking place in Concord that same day.
“A New Hampshire political tradition since 1944, the Lilac Luncheon is the signature event of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women, known for its top notch featured guests and rich history tied to New Hampshire’s historic First in the Nation Primary,” a brief summary of the event reads.
It adds:
The unique traditions of the Lilac Luncheon, which include raffling off lilacs from the Governor’s Lilac and Wildflower Commission, have been passed down from one generation to the next – making the highly anticipated Lilac Luncheon unlike any other Republican event.
Notably, Hollis, where DeSantis is holding his event, is roughly 40 miles from Concord.
DeSantis has already visited New Hampshire once since formally announcing his presidential bid as part of an early primary state blitz, visiting South Carolina and Iowa as well.
The presidential hopeful got into a tense exchange with Associated Press reporter Steve Peoples during his last trip to the Granite State after the reporter asked why the governor did not take questions from voters during the actual event.
“Governor, how come you’re not taking questions from voters?” the reporter asked as DeSantis mingled with the event’s attendees. DeSantis asserted that he was now very clearly speaking to voters, who were continually approaching him.
“Are you blind?” DeSantis snapped. “Are you blind?”
“I’m not blind,” Peoples replied.
“Okay, so people are coming up to me, talking to me [about] whatever they want to talk about,” DeSantis added, seemingly ending the conversation there.
As Breitbart News reported at the time, some pointed out the irony of the question, given that Peoples appeared to interrupt DeSantis’s conversation with voters to ask why he was not speaking to them. But the original question seemingly stemmed from the report that DeSantis did not take audience questions during the speaking portion of the event itself.
A post-arraignment poll from the New Hampshire Journal–Coefficient found Trump leading the GOP field in the Granite State by 34 points with 47 percent support and DeSantis following with 13 percent support.