Just days before the election, former President Donald Trump is rallying in New Mexico and Virginia, trying to close gaps in states where he is trailing in recent polls.

In New Mexico, Trump’s Halloween rally in Albuquerque marks his second visit since 2019 — when his campaign left with an unpaid city bill of more than $200,000. The rally comes as polls show a solid Democratic lead in the state, making Trump’s visit a surprising last-minute move.

A recent one Albuquerque Journal Research & Polling Inc. poll conducted Oct. 10-18 underlines Trump’s uphill battle in New Mexico. Among likely voters, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris leads by 9 points, giving him 50 percent to Trump’s 41 percent.

Daniel Garcia, spokesman for the Democratic Party of New Mexico, dismissed Trump’s rally as useless. “Trump is wasting his time in our state, where polls show New Mexicans will once again reject his MAGA extremism and divisive rhetoric,” Garcia said.

Historically, Democrats have dominated New Mexico’s key counties, especially Bernalillo and Santa Fe, while Republicans maintain stronger bases in the eastern and northwestern regions near Texas and the Four Corners area. Although New Mexico’s elections are competitive, pollsters like Nate Silver and polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight predict Harris will secure the state’s five electoral votes.

Virginia brings a new challenge for Trump

Virginia presents a similar picture for Trump. Last week, he called an early voting rally hosted by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s PAC in Chesterfield, hoping to rally GOP voters ahead of his Nov. 2 appearance in Salem.

“November 5th will be the biggest and most important day in the history of our country,” Trump told Youngkin and rallygoers by phone. “If we win Virginia, it’s over.”

While he and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, have campaigned heavily in states crucial to victory — such as Pennsylvania, Arizona and North Carolina — Trump insisted that “Virginia is still in the game.” Yet opinion polls tell a different story.

A Washington Post/George Mason University poll conducted from October 19 to 23 shows Harris leading Trump by six points in Virginia, with Harris at 49 percent and Trump at 43 percent. Virginia, once a stronghold of the Republican Party, has turned blue in presidential elections since 2008, with Trump losing by five points to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and by more than 10 points to Joe Biden in 2020.

Despite challenges at the polls, the Trump campaign remains firmly focused on Virginia, with Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, underscoring the importance of a win in the Old Dominion.

“He’s here because, let’s face it, we’re planning for a big red card on November 5, and Virginia is part of that picture,” she told meeting participants.

Trump last campaigned in Virginia on June 28 in Chesapeake, with an earlier rally on March 2 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

Harris, who has maintained a solid lead in recent Virginia polls, has not held a rally in the state since winning the party’s nomination.