As former President Donald Trump kicked off his four-rally tour across three states on Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina, many seats sat empty in the 5,000-seat J.S. Dorton Arena, marking the start of his final campaign push.
Trump addressed his supporters in a 90-minute speech, covering familiar topics like his proposed tough immigration policies. He mentioned potential tariffs on Mexico if it doesn't assist with border control and aired grievances against his Democratic opponents.
Empty seats were evident at the rally, with social media users and Vice President Kamala Harris' Rapid Response team highlighting them despite Trump's frequent boasts about crowd sizes.
Reporter: There are many empty seats at one of Trump’s final rallies. I can't tell you exactly why, but in this final week, we have seen far smaller crowds for Trump. For the first time since 2015, we’ve been looking around and questioning why the crowd sizes have been less than… pic.twitter.com/cRCkvgcHoN
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) November 4, 2024In North Carolina, Trump kicked off his marathon final day of campaigning, calling the state "ours to lose." His schedule includes stops in Pennsylvania—one of the most critical states on the electoral map—with rallies planned in Reading and Pittsburgh before Election Day.
However, while the former president has frequently boasted about filling arenas with enthusiastic crowds, as he nears the end of his third presidential campaign, his crowds have been smaller than he claims.
On Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump closed off the upper section of an arena that Harris had filled. The lower section wasn't fully occupied, either. At his final stop in Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum, large sections on both sides of the stage remained empty.
Crowd sizes became a sensitive topic for Trump after Harris, aiming to provoke him during their September debate, referenced reports of supporters allegedly leaving his rallies early.
"People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom," she said, a comment that triggered a fiery response from Trump that night and has since become a recurring theme in his rallies.
On Thursday at a benefit with former Fox host Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona, Trump spoke to his supporters, he revisited Harris' debate remark about people supposedly leaving his events "out of exhaustion and boredom."
"When that sleazebag said during the debate, 'Oh, your rallies aren't well-attended and people leave'—they don't leave, and they're packed. We can't find venues big enough," Trump said. "I told her, 'No, no, the rallies are the biggest in history, just like this one. We've never had an empty seat, and nobody leaves early.'
"If I ever saw people leaving, you know what I'd do? I'd say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna make America great again, goodbye!' and everyone would be happy. But we don't need to do that—nobody leaves. It's a lovefest. It's never happened before."
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