Trump to rally at Portland hotel on Thursday

Elections, Events, Governor LePage,
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during an Iowa speech in January. (Reuters)

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump will rally in Portland on Thursday ahead of Maine’s Saturday caucuses and Gov. Paul LePage will be introducing him.

News of Trump’s Maine visit was first reported by WCSH-TV on Wednesday afternoon and the event was placed on Trump’s online schedule shortly afterward. It’ll be in the ballroom of The Westin Portland Harborview hotel — better known as the former Eastland Park Hotel — at 1:30 p.m.

LePage, who became Trump’s highest-profile Maine supporter after his Friday endorsement of the mogul, said Wednesday on the Howie Carr Show that he’ll be introducing Trump at the rally.

There has been no recent public polling in Maine’s Republican presidential race, making Trump’s position hard to gauge. But he has won all of Maine’s neighboring states that have voted so far, including New Hampshire last month and Vermont and Massachusetts on Tuesday.

His visit comes amid a flurry of activity on both sides of the presidential race: Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was in Portland on Wednesday and Trump rival Ted Cruz will be in Orono on Friday.

 

Michael Shepherd

About Michael Shepherd

Michael Shepherd joined the Bangor Daily News in 2015 after covering state, federal and local issues for the Kennebec Journal for three years. He's a Hallowell native who now lives in Gardiner. He graduated from the University of Maine in 2012 and is a graduate student at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service.