PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Since former President Donald Trump ramped up the hints about a third campaign for the White House, his supporters in Washington state have been ready.
“I’d vote for him,” Craig Zimbelman said on Tuesday before Trump’s speech. “I thought he was a very, very, very good president.”
Taeshawn Cummings, another Pierce County resident, said he sensed a lot of support for Trump.
“I didn’t notice too much bad that happened during his run. If he did win again, I honestly wouldn’t mind it,” he said.
Overall, Pierce County voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, but there are pockets of deep red.
Trump’s potential road back to the White House would require the support of his own party.
“I feel it won’t go the way he thinks,” Rena Hardesty of Pierce County said, who feels Trump “did some good things and some bad things.”
“He’s a liability now,” said John Vining, who says Trump turned off a lot of conservatives.
“I used to vote Republican all the time, and I never will again,” Vining said. “Trump ruined it for me.”
“When he became the face and the message of the Republican Party, I was out,” said independent Chris Vance, who was once chair of the Washington GOP.
In 2016, as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Vance announced he couldn’t vote for Trump.
“Donald Trump will demand to be the leader of the Republican Party as long as he draws breath. There’s never been any chance he wasn’t going to run,” Vance said Tuesday before the announcement.
Vance says while Republican leaders might wince, the 45th president holds a grip on the party’s base.
“It’s all about the voters, and Republican voters still love the guy.”
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