Trump to visit Florida GOP stronghold amid impeachment inquiry

President Donald Trump has set a date for his long-anticipated visit to The Villages, a deep red Central Florida retirement community considered a stronghold of Republican support in the nation’s largest swing state.

He is scheduled to make the visit Oct. 3, according to a White House official. This visit was originally planned for Aug. 6, but was rescheduled after back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton left a total of 31 people dead and rattled the country.

The event is billed as an official presidential event, where Trump is expected to sign an executive order related to Medicare. But the Villages is also one of Florida’s most concentrated Republican strongholds in a state crucial to 2020.

Even after the shootings prompted harsh criticism of Trump by Democrats, some of whom attributed the El Paso shooting to Trump’s rhetoric on immigration, many residents of the Villages said they remain firm supporters of the president.

Trump likely will receive a warm welcome in The Villages next week, even as a rising fever pitch of impeachment proceedings overtake Washington and the nation’s headlines.

This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 12:28 PM.