President Joe Biden may be on a quest to paint the states of Florida and North Carolina blue this election cycle, but the Trump campaign is looking to flip the script when it comes to Democrat strongholds like New Jersey, which he sometimes calls home.

At a private donor retreat last month, officials from the Trump campaign said they believe they can win the solid blue states of Minnesota and Virginia, and Trump said two weeks ago that there’s a “very good chance” he will win New York in November.

In New Jersey, where the former president has an estate in Bedminster, his campaign said it is making progress in convincing Garden State voters to cast their ballots for him.

“We are witnessing tremendous momentum and enthusiasm from black and brown communities all over the country, even in blue states like New York and New Jersey,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

Marking his first campaign visit to the state since 2020, Trump hosted a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, last month which drew 80,000 to 100,000 people to the Jersey Shore.

According to the New Jersey Globe, since Biden took office, New Jersey Democrats have lost the registration edge of 1 million voters that they had in 2020. Since that time, their advantage has dwindled to 940,815.

Longtime New Jersey Republican strategist Chris Russell said the uptick for Republicans is a good sign, but stressed that the path to victory in the state is still fraught.

“It indicates a renewed enthusiasm about the party in some ways, and I think that’s a positive thing, but it’s still a significant hill to climb for any Republican statewide,” Russell told the Examiner.

New Jersey Assembly Republican Minority Whip Brian Bergen pointed to the members of the state Republican Party and said they don’t “get as much credit as they deserve for all the stuff that they’re doing trying to make a difference here in the state.”

“They’re increasing voter registration,” Bergen told the Examiner. “Biden obviously makes it a lot easier for us because he’s such an unlikable president that he’s forcing many independent voters over to be Republicans.”

Bergen also speculated that “some Democrats who may have been just kind of ‘Democrats In Name Only,’ ” may have shifted right in their political affiliation due to Biden’s unpopularity.

“They feel like their government is more out of touch than ever,” Bergen said. “They’re looking for an alternative and the Republicans are here to offer them an alternative, and people are starting to embrace that.”

New Jersey has given its 14 electoral votes to Democrat presidential candidates every election cycle since 1992 and it’s unlikely to give them to Trump this time.

Except for Sen. Jeffrey Chiesa, R-N.J., who was appointed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie after the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., seven of the last eight New Jersey senators have been Democrats.

Candidates looking to win in New Jersey also have to buy into both the New York and Philadelphia media markets, which adds to the cost of statewide races.

“You know, the tried and true way to reach voters in the state, from an advertising standpoint, are through those mediums, and they just happen to be ridiculously expensive,” Russell said. “If you cannot raise significant money, you have a really difficult time getting your message through.”

Even so, Bergen said that “the bottom line is winners win,” adding that those who “want to win badly enough” will “put together a strategy” to make it happen.

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