Donald Trump expected to draw more than 10,000 at Huntsville rally


Donald Trump arrives to thousands of supporters at a rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., on August 21, 2015. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com)
By Paul Gattis
on February 23, 2016 at 12:16 PM,
updated February 23, 2016 at 12:45 PM

Business magnate Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, will be greeted by another mob of supporters when he visits Huntsville on Sunday.

State Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, who is working with the Trump campaign in Alabama and is also on the ballot Tuesday as a candidate to be a Trump delegate at the Republican National Convention, said he expected more than 10,000 people to be at the rally.

However, after Trump exceeded crowd expectations last summer in Mobile – which resulted in the rally being moved from the Mobile Civic Center Theater to Ladd-Peebles Stadium – Henry said estimating crowd size is a chancy proposition.

Estimates reached as high as 30,000 for the attendance at the Trump rally at the Mobile football stadium.

"Ever since the Mobile event, we've been very cautious about underestimating the amount of people who want to come to an event," Henry told AL.com on Tuesday. "Donald Trump, he stirs up excitement that's been missing in American politics for decades – especially on the conservative side.

"This is the first time we've had a candidate who really connects with the people and energizes them and excites them to the point to actually being involved in the political process."

The event will be held at Black Hall Aerospace at 2840 Wall Triana Highway. The rally starts at 4 p.m. but doors open at 2 p.m.
"I suspect we will have, depending on the weather, 10,000 or more," Henry said.

The facility has a capacity of 20,000 people, Henry said, "and we may be at capacity."

Trump's visit will be "brief," Henry said. It will be Trump's third visit to the state in his campaign for the GOP nomination, including a November rally in Birmingham along with the Mobile event.

"In Alabama, the numbers keep looking pretty good that Trump's going to win our state pretty handily," Henry said. "But from the state campaign side, we've been urging him to make one more stop in north Alabama. It's just a brief stop, just to say hi and thank you and that sort of thing. It will be a fairly brief stop in Huntsville. It's not going to be a prolonged event.

"But we do appreciate the fact that he recognized that we're a strong conservative area and that it was worth taking time before the election on Tuesday."

Watch Donald Trump speak at a rally in BirminghamWatch Donald Trump discuss Iran, Syrian refugees, media bias, and other topics at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday.

Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump will roll into Huntsville Sunday. Here's what you need to know if you want to see Trump in person.

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