Signs are displayed against the wall during a rally with Michael Nutter on Thursday in Tyler.

As early voting takes place in East Texas and local seats are contested, soon the focus will be on the race for president of the United States.

Will President Donald Trump visit Tyler and East Texas or will the area see the vice president or other supporters?

On Thursday, his possible opponent, Democrat Mike Bloomberg, sent in his first heavy-hitter, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Nutter did not say a single bad word about Trump, rather talked about what Bloomberg was doing for all minorities.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph asked Nutter why East Texas since in the past it has been a heavily Republican and conservative area?

“You do your best. Part of winning is about showing up. Showing people respect. I know for a fact a lot of campaigns do not spend the kind of time we should in communities like Tyler and other places around the country,” said Nutter. “You can’t get somebody to vote for you if you don’t ask for the vote. It’s a fundamental of politics, we are asking people for the vote.”

Nutter is Bloomberg’s 2020 national political co-chairman, and at the College Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Tyler he acknowledged Bloomberg had a rough debate last week.

He told the audience, “I’m sure a lot of you saw the debate and it was a tough night. First night on the debate stage. I would characterize it as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs. They were coming at him from all ways and sometimes multiple folks at the same time.

“At the end of the day, he stood tall, he got better as the game, as the night went on. Using sports analogies, he had a tough first quarter but was standing tall by the end and the final whistle. He got his message across, he is the strongest candidate in this race to ultimately defeat Donald Trump and putting multiple teams on the field, all over the country, traveling to every possible place to know how serious this election is and what is at stake,” Nutter said.

After his speech, the newspaper asked if Bloomberg was prepared for the rest of the campaign.

“I felt for him, it’s hard to watch a friend at that level of attack for two hours. We knew the long knives would be out,” said Nutter. “This was his first debate and they had nine debates. He went through a significant amount of debate prep. Sure he started slow, but at the end he was actively engaged. For the first debate it went well … They took a shot at Mike, trying to get a piece of him was their last-gasp attempt.”

Nutter and Bloomberg overlapped during their tenures as mayors of Philadelphia and New York City, respectively. Nutter quoted from a “Rocky” movie, “He takes his shots, he takes his blows. It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get up.

“He is committed to people and committed to improving lives of folks. Mike decided late last year, he was deeply concerned what was going on in the United States and he did not feel the Democratic candidates could defeat Donald Trump in the fall. He felt he had the time and resources.

“His No. 1 focus is not only to be the Democratic nominee, but defeating Donald Trump and taking him, electorally out of the White House in November. What is at stake is the future of the United States,” Nutter added.