President-elect Donald Trump is expected in Baton Rouge Friday afternoon, multiple sources told WBRZ Tuesday.
Sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the event is still being planned. Two sources with knowledge of a planned visit said staff were trying to find a venue. Before the election, Trump’s schedule was regularly updated with seemingly spur-of-the-moment rallies that were heavily attended. Events are known to attract thousands of people. At a campaign event in Baton Rouge in early 2016, more than 10,000 filled the River Center. A visit Friday may require space for more than the number of people who attended the first Baton Rouge campaign stop.
This would actually be the third time the president-elect made it to the capital city. There was the February event at the River Center that Channel 2 referenced, and then there was his trip to town in August in the aftermath of the floods which hit the region, wherein Trump unloaded a tractor trailer full of diapers and kids’ toys and other items useful to evacuees. And now, he’d be on hand to pump up turnout for John Kennedy, who by all indications is going to annihilate Foster Campbell in the Senate runoff, and Bodi White, who’s in a tight race against the Democrat Sharon Weston Broome for mayor-president in East Baton Rouge.
What Trump is going to say will be interesting. He’s got to be careful that he doesn’t inflame Democrats too terribly, or else he could do more damage to White than aid. But reports out of the Republican’s camp have it that white voters are coming home to the state senator from Central, and Trump could be helpful in galvanizing that vote with a good message on Friday.
If he’s willing to mention the mayor’s race much, that is. Trump is primarily coming to help Kennedy, who has tied his messaging increasingly to Trump’s victory…
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