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Donald Trump Will Be In Eugene Friday Night; Vancouver Plans Unclear

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a primary night news conference, Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in New York.

Mary Altaffer

Donald Trump will appear at the Lane County fairgrounds for a 7 p.m. rally Friday in Eugene, according to his state director.

Jacob Daniels said that Trump is continuing with his plans to visit the Northwest even though his two Republican rivals — Ted Cruz and John Kasich — have dropped out of the race. Trump still hasn't won a delegate majority and he wants to rack up as big of a margin as he can before the Republican convention.

Trump also plans to visit Washington state on Saturday. But his campaign is having a hard time finding a venue in Vancouver, Washington.

Joel Mattila, the Clark County organizer for Trump, said Wednesday morning that many of the usual venues for a political visit, such as the fairgrounds, are already booked on Saturday, the day of Trump's planned visit.

"Get it out there that we need a venue," said Mattila. He told the Columbian, which first reported on the Trump campaign's difficulties, that school graduations and soccer games are already scheduled at many facilities.

Mattila said it is also possible that Trump could end up visiting Portland instead on Saturday.

Mattila said Trump advance workers are already in the Portland area and said that, "Until we hear no, we're still going ahead" with plans for an event.

Oregon's primary is on May 17 and Washington will hold a Republican presidential primary on May 24.

Copyright 2016 Oregon Public Broadcasting

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Jeff Mapes is a senior political reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting. Previously, Jeff covered state and national politics for The Oregonian for nearly 32 years. He has covered numerous presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and ballot measure campaigns, as well as many sessions of the Legislature, stretching back to 1985. Jeff graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in journalism.