WATCH LIVE: Trump campaigns in Coachella in a rare visit to heavily Democratic California

COACHELLA, Calif. (AP) — With the presidency at stake in battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, why would Donald Trump venture to California, one of the most Democratic states, just weeks before Election Day?

Trump will almost certainly lose California, and that won't change after his scheduled Saturday stop in Coachella, a desert city east of Los Angeles best known for the annual music festival that bears that name. Still, there are practical reasons for his visit, despite the Republican candidate's Nov. 5 prospects in the most populous state.

Watch the event in the player above.

The former president lost California by a landslide in 2020. He received more than 6 million votes, more than any other Republican Party presidential candidate before, and in some rural counties that typically favor conservatives on the ballot, his majority exceeded 70 percent.

That's a huge pool of potential volunteers who can work on state races and participate in phone banks in the most competitive states. And Trump is expected to draw extensive media coverage in the Los Angeles market, the second-largest market in the country.

Trump is visiting Coachella between stops in Nevada, at a Latino roundtable in Las Vegas early Saturday – where he praised Hispanics as “so energetic” – and Arizona at a rally in Prescott Valley on Sunday. He narrowly lost these two swing states to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

REGARD: Trump attends Hispanic roundtable event in Las Vegas, Nevada

Attendees waiting in scorching temperatures near 100 degrees Saturday said they didn't expect Trump to win their state but were thrilled to see him.

“It's like a meeting of like-minded people,” said Tom Gibbons of Palm Desert, who has supported Trump since 2016 but was only able to see him in person on Saturday as he lined up at a food truck at the Polo Fields to accommodate the crowd at the Coachella event. “Everyone understands the heartbeat of America, the plight of the working man. … It’s calming.”

People gather before a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump in Coachella, California, October 12, 2024. Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters

The visit to California gives Trump an “opportunity to influence and win over this large group of Trump supporters,” said Tim Lineberger, who was communications director for Trump's 2016 campaign in Michigan and also worked in the former president's administration. He “comes here and activates this.”

Recalling that Californians made calls to Michigan voters on Trump's behalf in 2016, Lineberger said the campaign's decision to move to safe, Democratic ground at this time was “an aggressive, offensive play.” been.

California is also a source of campaign cash for both parties, and Trump will be fundraising. Photos with the former president at Coachella cost $25,000, including special seating for two people. A “VIP experience” cost $5,000.

With California's upcoming congressional elections that could decide which party controls the House of Representatives, the Coachella rally is “a type of election rally that motivates and energizes California Republicans when they're not so close to what “What's going on in the national campaign,” said Republican consultant Tim Rosales.

Rosales also said he would watch for Trump to continue his long-running feud with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

For Republicans, “it's motivating when you can pick at California a little bit and the governor … takes the bait,” Rosales said.

Newsom predicted Wednesday that Trump would denigrate the state at the rally and disregard its strengths as the world's fifth-largest economy. The governor said that for the first time in a decade, California has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.

“You know, Trump won’t say that,” he predicted.

Jim Brulte, a former chairman of the California Republican Party, said he believes Trump is aiming for something that has eluded him in previous campaigns: winning more total votes than his Democratic opponent.

“I believe Donald Trump is coming to California because he wants to win not only the Electoral College, but the popular vote. There are more registered voters in California than residents in 46 of the other 49 states,” Brulte said.

The Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles is located on the Pacific coast south of the city. But Trump has long had a fractious relationship with California, where no Republican has governed the state since 1988 and Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by about two to one.

California has been home to the so-called Trump resistance during his time in office, and Trump often portrays California as a representative of everything he believes is wrong with America. As president, he called the homeless crisis in Los Angeles and San Francisco a disgrace and threatened to intervene.

On Saturday, he will likely spend time tying California's problems to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee and San Francisco Bay Area native who served as California's attorney general and represented the state in the Senate.

His campaign released a statement saying that under Harris, “the infamous 'California Dream' has turned into a nightmare for everyday Americans.”

Jessica Millan Patterson, chairwoman of the state Republican Party, said she looks forward to hearing how Trump compares his agenda to a Democratic White House “that has left Californians less safe and with less money in their pockets.” have”.

She promised that Republicans will “do our part to achieve a majority in the House of Representatives.”

Tom Beaumont in Las Vegas contributed to this report.