Oct. 27 – Former President Donald Trump will stop in New Mexico on Halloween – just five days before the Nov. 5 election.

The Republican Party of New Mexico said in an email Sunday that the Republican candidate in the hotly contested presidential race will hold a campaign rally at noon Thursday in Albuquerque.

Although online registration was available for the event, the venue was unclear.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico reacted boldly to the planned visit.

“There will be a round orange mass in Albuquerque on Halloween, and we’re not talking about a pumpkin,” New Mexico Democratic Party spokesman Daniel Garcia said in a statement.

“Trump is wasting his time coming to our state as polls show New Mexicans will once again reject his MAGA extremism and divisive rhetoric,” Garcia added. “Trump’s Project 2025 agenda, which includes attacking reproductive rights, repealing the Affordable Care Act and prioritizing wealthy and large corporations, is completely at odds with everyday New Mexicans.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has a comfortable lead over Trump in New Mexico. A recent poll commissioned by the Albuquerque Journal showed him trailing her 41% to 50%.

Although New Mexico leans Democratic, at least one close race is expected on Election Day. The Journal poll, conducted by Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc., found Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez tied with Republican Yvette Herrell in the race to represent New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has been actively supporting Harris since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. She cut short a campaign visit to Pennsylvania last week to return to New Mexico after the deadly Roswell floods.

Lujan Grisham spoke in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August and at a reproductive rights rally for the Democratic primary in Albuquerque earlier this month.

After that reproductive rights rally, New Mexico Republicans expected a visit from Trump.

“We could see him fall any day in our state,” Leticia Muñoz, the executive director of the state Republican Party, told The New Mexican at the time.

Trump’s planned visit to New Mexico comes after weeks of intense campaigning by both presidential candidates in neighboring Arizona, a key swing state.

Trump held a rally at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, on October 24 where he denounced Harris’ immigration record and questioned her leadership credentials.

“My message today is very simple: Kamala’s migrant immigration wave, brought upon us through gross incompetence, disqualifies her from even considering becoming president,” Trump said during the rally.

Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, spent much of the day Oct. 26 mobilizing voters for the Navajo Nation before another campaign rally in Phoenix.

It’s the latest in a series of moves by the Democratic campaign — including an Oct. 25 visit by President Biden to the Gila River Indian Community during which he apologized for the “sin in our souls” of Indian boarding schools — to address the situation to strengthen support for Harris among Native American voters.

In a press release, the Harris-Walz campaign called the Minnesota governor “the first presidential candidate to ever campaign in the Navajo Nation’s capital city of Window Rock.”

Staff writer Daniel J. Chacón contributed to this report.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.