Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will make his fifth campaign stop in Maine on Friday when he visits a Christian school in Lisbon following a noon rally in New Hampshire.

The visit is Trump’s second this month – his sons, first Eric and then Donald Jr., also stumped here for their father this month.

Trump will appear at 4 p.m. at Open Door Christian Academy. Trump’s campaign has spent an unusual amount of time in Maine, many believe, because the state is one of only two that splits its Electoral College votes by U.S. Congressional District.

With one vote going to the winner of each of the two districts and two going to the statewide winner, Trump has focused on the state’s more conservative, northern and rural 2nd Congressional District, where he has been either ahead of or tied with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the polls. Recent polls in the 2nd District have shown Clinton gaining on the Republican, however.

Clinton has led Trump by double digits in polling in Maine’s more urban and liberal 1st Congressional District.

The stop in Lisbon, which borders Lewiston, the largest city in the 2nd District, also makes tactical sense for Trump’s campaign.

Lisbon is the hometown of Maine’s Senate Republican Majority Leader Garrett Mason. Mason, who first supported U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, threw his support to Trump following the Republican’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in July.

Scott Thistle can be contacted at 791-6330 or at:

sthistle@pressherald.com

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