Trump eyeing return to New Hampshire on eve of presidential primary

MANCHESTER, N.H. — He’s already heading to Iowa just a few days before the state’s caucuses kick off the presidential nominating calendar, and now there’s word that President Trump may also hold a reelection campaign rally on the eve of New Hampshire’s first-in-the nation primary on Feb. 11.

Republican sources on Thursday confirmed to Fox News that Trump reelection campaign aides and GOP officials both in Washington, D.C., and New Hampshire are targeting Feb. 10 as the likely date for the quick trip by the president to the state that gave him his first decisive victory in his 2016 march toward the Republican nomination and eventually the White House.

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But the sources say the date has yet to be locked in.

There are only a few venues in New Hampshire large enough to hold a rally by the president. The most obvious venue would be the Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Arena in downtown Manchester, the state’s largest city. Trump packed the arena with rallies on the eve of the February 2016 primary and on the eve of the November 2016 presidential election. He returned to the SNHU Arena last August for a reelection rally.

But there’s an issue.

The New Hampshire Democratic Party (NHDP) is holding a large event, which is expected to attract all of the remaining Democratic presidential candidates, at the arena on the night of Feb. 8. That’s just two days before primary eve — and wouldn’t give the president’s campaign much time to build up for a Trump rally, which normally takes more time to complete.

The state Democratic Party predicts that a Trump visit just ahead of the primary will energize Democratic voters.

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NHDP Communications Director Holly Shulman forecast that the likely trip “is the best thing that could have happened to new Hampshire Democrats.”

The president’s rally in Des Moines will take place on Jan. 30, just days before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses.

News of the likely Feb. 10 trip to New Hampshire was first reported by WMUR.

Fox News’ Rob DiRienzo contributed to this report.