The Donald Trump presidential campaign has announced that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) will act as a surrogate for the President in the New Hampshire Republican primary.
Paul was featured in a statement listing 20 surrogates issued by Trump campaign National Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Friday.
The New Hampshire Republican primary is widely expected to be uncompetitive, with Trump winning 97.1% of the vote in the Iowa Republican caucus earlier this week. However, a near-unanimous victory for Donald Trump in New Hampshire would rally his base in the state and boost the confidence of the campaign going into the November general election.
Trump is currently facing a primary challenge from Bill Weld, who previously served as Governor of the neighboring state of Massachusetts. Weld ran as the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee in 2016, and deploying Rand Paul, a figure with broad appeal among libertarian voters, may help further dwindle Weld’s share of the vote, particularly in libertarian-leaning New Hampshire.
Other Trump campaign surrogates announced included Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Greg Pence (R-IN), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), NRCC Chair Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), and former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI).
