Donald Trump is putting states in play that have not traditionally voted Republican, as he speaks to a "much broader electorate than has traditionally been the case," Republican National Committee Communications Director and Chief Strategist Sean Spicer said Friday.
"He's right when he talks about states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin that traditionally have not been Republican states," Spicer told Fox News' Martha MacCallum on the
"America's Newsroom" program. "They've been more of a blue shade of purple. But I think because of his appeal to especially working class Americans who have felt left out of what's going on, especially in the last eight years, that there are states and areas of this country that haven't been in play for a while that are definitely going to be in play."
And that, combined with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's negative numbers are a "huge factor" with those states, said Spicer.
Even with states like New York, where there are more Democrats than Republicans, there is still an opportunity for Trump to win, Spicer said.
"Donald Trump isn't a traditional candidate," said Spicer. "He is someone who has a level of celebrity. He is talking about a message that is really focused on making in this country better, bringing back jobs, and I think that resonates with a lot of people who have either lost their job or haven't seen a wage or feel like the company they're working for isn't taking care of them."
After the 2012 election and Mitt Romney's loss, a review of the election was completed to revamp the party and to bring back in non-white voters to the fold, but Spicer pointed out the report was completed before Trump got into the race.
"I think what we can definitely say is this has not been a traditional race, that nothing has gone according to script or how traditionally things have run," said Spicer. "He's added an element of energy, of intensity, and it brought in people that have not been part of the process before."
Romney has been fighting a "never Trump" fight for months, and Spicer said he does have a lot of respect for the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP nominee, but Trump "got the most votes in Republican history."
"The voters made a decision that they think he speaks best to, the direction they want this party to go, and they agree with the solutions that he's offering," said Spicer. "I think it's incumbent upon all of us who are good conservatives who want to defeat Hillary Clinton, who want to make sure that we have a Supreme Court for the next generation that recognizes conservative values, that we get behind it and get behind this movement, get behind this candidate."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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