Trump makes rare trip to Clinton state, hoping to win back New Hampshire

President Trump will venture on Thursday into New Hampshire, a state that might represent the best opportunity for him to take back territory won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.

But to take New Hampshire, Trump will need to expand beyond his core base of supporters and win over the sort of establishment Republicans who have resisted his charms not only in the Granite State but around the country.

The trip is a rare foray to a bluish state by Trump, who hasn’t held a rally in a state Clinton won since October, when he appeared with three Republican incumbents in southern Illinois in the run-up to the midterm elections.

New Hampshire is no blue bastion. Clinton carried the state by only 2,800 votes, or about three-tenths of a percentage point — the closest margin of any state in the nation.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) won the closest Senate race in the country when the then-governor ousted Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) by just 1,000 votes. Neither of the two Democratic representatives who won seats in the House claimed more than 50 percent of the vote, and Republican Chris Sununu won the right to replace Hassan in the governor's mansion.