800,000 register for Trump’s Tulsa rally amid pandemic, campaign manager says

President Donald Trump will host his first rally since March in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday.

The rally was originally planned for Friday but was pushed back after criticism that the rally would be held on Juneteenth, a day that many people celebrate former slaves learning of their independence in the United States.

Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, wrote on Twitter Friday that more than 200,000 tickets had been requested from interested event-goers.

By Sunday, Parscale said that 800,000 people had registered for the rally.

He said that it is the biggest rally sign-up “of all time by 10 times.”

According to Forbes, the BOK Center, where the rally will be held, only seats 19,200.

Parscale said the overwhelming interest has prompted the administration to consider a second event in the city so more people can support Trump.

A registration form for the event notes that all registrants acknowledge “that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present,” and that by attending the rally, guests “voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.”

Oklahoma is currently in phase three of three amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to Johns Hopkins University, the state’s number of COVID-19 cases are trending upward for the current two-week period. The state reported its highest number of new cases in a single day on Friday with 197 new cases reported.

In a post on Twitter, Parscale praised the state for being “the most open state in nation.”

The Tulsa rally comes just two months before the Republican National Convention is scheduled to occur. The convention was supposed to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, but was moved to Jacksonville, Florida, after Democratic leaders in North Carolina refused to relax social distancing guidelines for the event. Trump said he did not want to scale down the event despite the pandemic.

The GOP convention will be held at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, which holds 15,000 people.

Cox Media Group