Donald Trump is making a 'heavy play' in 2024 for these blue states he has never won

WASHINGTON − Former President Donald Trump is already expanding his big talk about the 2024 general election, claiming he will play for Democratic-leaning states that Republicans − including him − have not won in decades.

"One of the other things I’m going to do − and I may be foolish in doing it − is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump told Breitbart News in an interview posted last weekend.

Trump lost New York, New Jersey, Virginia, New Mexico, and Minnesota in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.

He acknowledged he may not make as big of a play in those states as he will in Pennsylvania, which he won in 2016 and lost in 2020.

But the former president has to win the Republican presidential nomination first, starting with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23.

GOP opponents like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have challenged Trump's ability to win a general election against President Joe Biden or any other Democrat.

Opponents said Trump's legal problems and the "drama" and "chaos" that surrounds him will turn off independent voters in battleground states, much less Democratic bastions like New York.

Trump also faces up to four criminal trials, two of them involving his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden.

The trials could cut down on Trump's campaign schedule in any number of states.

The battle for the Electoral College is likely to boil down to six battleground states that Biden carried in 2020: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

Trump, who leads Biden in many early general election polls, exudes confidence about Democratic states. He told Breitbart he may rent out New York's "Madison Square Garden" for a rally.

The former president provided few details about his push in Democratic states and suggested battlegrounds may take precedence in the end.

“I’m going to do rallies, I’m going to do speeches, I’m going to work them,” Trump told Breitbart about long-shot states. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to work them as hard as I work Pennsylvania, where I’m doing very well.”

The latest Pennsylvania polls show Biden and Trump nearly tied. A Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll shows Trump ahead by 2 percentage points, while the Franklin & Marshall College Poll from October shows Biden up by 2 and a Muhlenberg College poll from December shows Biden up by 1.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump is making a 'heavy play' for these blue states in 2024