President Trump says he plans to host his first campaign rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that he later plans to have rallies in Arizona, Florida and North Carolina.
The Tulsa rally is scheduled for Friday, June 19. It will be his first since a March 2 rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We’ve had a tremendous run at rallies. I don’t think we’ve had an empty seat since we came down the escalator,” Trump said at a roundtable event with black supporters in the White House Cabinet Room.
“They’ve done a great job with COVID, as you know, in the state of Oklahoma,” Trump said.
He added: “We’re going into North Carolina at the appropriate time. The governor’s a little backward there, a little bit behind.”
In a Tuesday tweet, Trump wrote that there is “BIG DEMAND” for rallies and teased that they would be “Starting up again soon, maybe next week!”
The raucous rallies are seen by Trump and his allies as important base-energizing events. They also earn Trump significant free publicity in swing-state markets.
In an Oval Office interview last month, Trump told The Post that he would be at a “big disadvantage” if COVID-19 prevented rallies before November.
“I hope we’re going to be able to get the rallies back before the election. I actually think it’s very important,” Trump said in the interview.
“I think that would be a big — a big disadvantage to me if we didn’t, if we couldn’t have the rallies back,” he continued. “People are wanting the rallies. They want to have them so badly. They were informative but they were fun.”