Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, addressed a MAGA crowd at Charlie Kirk‘s Turning Point conference in Detroit, Michigan this weekend.
After claiming that the RNC is “taking Michigan back” — Trump lost the swing state in the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden — Ms. Trump implored the crowd to “vote as early as you can.”
She instructed the crowd, after they vote early themselves, to “every day, from that moment up until Election Day, take somebody to go vote. Take your friend, take your family.”
She added, “Drive them in your car if you have to, buy them a sandwich afterwards if you have to — we know the Democrats love to do that — whatever you need to do, do it and get them to go vote.”
MAGA: Democrats shouldn't be taking people to vote early and giving them water!!!! That's ILLEGAL!!!!
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) June 14, 2024
Laura Trump: Take people to vote early and buy them a sandwich if you have to.
MAGA: That's a great idea! pic.twitter.com/kUztkxEMRZ
Note: After two Democrats distributed snacks to Georgia voters waiting in a long line to cast their votes in the 2020 presidential election, Georgia Republicans passed the Election Integrity Act of 2021, a law that bans the distribution of food and water to voters, a.k.a. “line warming.” Although the Democrats didn’t ask for votes in exchange for food, Republicans claimed the distribution of snacks was “illegal gift-giving.”
Giving food and water to voters is not a new political ploy and it has been used by both political parties. In 2012, the Wisconsin DNC filed an “election bribery complaint” after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his VP pick Paul Ryan handed out free sandwiches at a rally and encouraged the crowd to vote. (Note: President Obama won Wisconsin in 2012 and secured his second term in the White House.)