COACHELLA, CA — Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in Riverside County, it was announced Monday.
Trump is slated to deliver remarks at 5 p.m. Oct. 12. The event takes place at Calhoun Ranch, 52995 Calhoun Street, Coachella.
During the rally, the former president is expected to paint a bleak picture for Golden State residents about their state, according to the narrative of an Oct. 7 news release from the Trump campaign.
Doors for the upcoming event open at 1 p.m., according to the campaign. General admission tickets are available here.
While Trump supporters will welcome the visit, some Coachella Valley leaders are not.
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez released a statement Monday afternoon unfavorably comparing Trump’s planned rally to a 2020 primary campaign event held by Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom he said the city was “proud to welcome.”
“Trump’s attacks on immigrants, women, the LQBTQ community and the most vulnerable among us don’t align with the values of our community,” Hernandez said. “He has consistently expressed disdain for the type of diversity that helps define Coachella. We don’t know why Trump is visiting near Coachella, but we know he wasn’t invited by the people who live here. He ain’t like us.”
Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz announced his strong opposition to Trump’s planned visit.
“It’s truly appalling — and yet another demonstration of his cluelessness and ignorance — that Donald Trump would stage a rally in Coachella,” Ruiz said.
“Under a second Trump administration, there is literally no place in America that would be harmed more than the Coachella Valley,” Ruiz continued. “His proposed tariffs would cause another trade war, costing farmers and farmworkers hundreds of millions of dollars in exports and jeopardizing thousands of jobs. His hate-driven immigration policy would decimate the local workforce in agriculture, construction, and hospitality, severely harming families and businesses alike – including some of the businesses that support him. His ignorant opposition to clean energy would destroy local wind and solar businesses, as well as the emerging industries developing in the Salton Sea. And his repeated attempts to dismantle Obamacare would take away health care from thousands of local residents. Donald Trump — and his policies — are an affront to everything that makes the Coachella Valley a vibrant community.”
Coachella City Councilman Frank Figueroa, who Congressman Ruiz endorsed for mayor, echoed the Congressman’s remarks.
“I’m disappointed that Trump is bringing his brand of divisiveness to Coachella. Trump is a threat to our shared values, his policies would decimate Coachella and surrounding communities, and he is an affront to the diversity we have cultivated here. Hate has no home in Coachella,” Figueroa said.
Indio City Councilman Waymond Fermon agreed.
“It’s hard to imagine a politician who represents our communities and our values worse than Donald Trump. He is a threat to our needs and to democracy itself. I certainly will not be attending this rally, and I would discourage everyone else from attending as well,” Fermon said.
Trump was last in Southern California in mid-September, attending a fundraiser in Beverly Hills and holding a news conference at his golf resort in Rancho Palos Verdes. He was also in the area in June, again attending private fundraisers in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach.
Prior to that, he had not been in Southern California since Sept. 29-30, 2023, when he spoke at the California Republican Party Fall Convention in Anaheim and attended a fundraiser in Costa Mesa.
Trump’s son Eric headlined a May fundraiser in Temecula for the conservative Inland Empire Family PAC. Read more here.
