Ivanka, with her bump, stumps for Papa Trump
Ivanka Trump arrives at a polling place at North Salem Elementary School Tuesday in Salem, N.H. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)
SALEM, N.H. — There was a frigid wind and the sidewalks were slushy with leftover snow. But Ivanka Trump was all smiles and sunshine as she carefully stepped through ice patches outside North Salem Elementary School here Tuesday morning, where she made the first of several last-minute stops to stir up support for her father, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“Hello! How are you?” she said in a singsong voice as she greeted a group of shivering Trump supporters waving signs outside the school, which serves as a polling site.
When a man told her they’d been standing there since 6:30 a.m., Ivanka replied, “Good for you!” And then, just as quickly, she added, “Should we take some photos?”
As the group swarmed her, getting their iPhones ready, Ivanka, who wore a chic black-and-white dress and boots, gently rested a hand on her baby bump — a reminder that, at any minute, she is due to give birth to her third child.
Just last week, her father told voters in Iowa he was “praying” that his daughter might give birth in the first-in-the-nation caucuses state. “I’d win for sure!” he said. In recent days, he has shifted that prayer to New Hampshire, where he held a significant lead in the polls heading into Tuesday’s primary and is expected to win — new grandchild or not.
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In theory, the last place a woman wants to be in the final days of her pregnancy is slogging through the ice and snow of an early presidential voting state, but when asked about this, Ivanka replied with a giggle and a smile.
“They have very good hospitals and doctors here in New Hampshire, so I am not concerned, but obviously, normally, I wouldn’t be traveling this close,” she said. “But this is a historic moment, and I’m excited to do it.”
If she did happen to go into labor, “I think the plan would be to get to a hospital very quickly, and I know where they are, and I’ll be great on that front,” she replied before politely walking away from a small group of reporters from media outlets including Inside Edition and Russian TV.
In a state where many residents have become blasé about seeing presidential candidates because they have been inundated with ads and campaign stops, many voters here stopped and stared almost dumbstruck at Trump’s daughter, a former model, as she surveyed the polling site in the school’s gym.
When she ducked into a restroom before leaving, a woman who was overseeing the operations at the site looked visibly stressed. “Oh, lord,” the woman said, wringing her hands. “I hope the bathroom is clean.”
