President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance campaigned Thursday in heavily Republican areas as the party tried to build support before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Republicans face tougher races than party officials once expected. Trump said he was beginning a 32-day campaign blitz to get GOP voters to turn out.
A national campaign push
Trump traveled to Texas and Oklahoma, while Vance campaigned in Florida. Trump called the party’s difficulties a public-relations problem. “We’re not getting the word out,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I mean, we’re just not getting it.” He said he’d travel widely and urge Republican voters to act as if his name were on the ballot. “I’m going out because nobody’s selling it,” Trump said.
Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that “the president is barnstorming the country, energizing our base, and supercharging Republican candidates in battleground districts and beyond.” She said, “We have the resources to spend, and Republicans are full steam ahead to protect and expand our majorities.”
The Democratic National Committee said Trump and Vance were “desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat.” DNC Deputy Communications Director Kendall Witmer said the two “started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher,” and were asking voters to “give (them) another chance.” Trump has brushed aside concerns about high costs and gas prices as the unpopular war in Iran continues.
State races and voter concerns
In Oklahoma, Trump was scheduled to campaign with Republican Mike Mazzei, who is running for governor against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson. The event was set for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Trump’s visit put him among a handful of U.S. presidents who have visited tribal nations while in office.
Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said the rally showed Republicans “are in full-on panic mode.” He said, “This race continues to get more competitive — and national Republicans are right to be worried about Mazzei.”
Before his evening stop in Oklahoma, Trump was scheduled to tour a truck manufacturing facility in Texas. Republicans were spending heavily to support state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. Two campaign officials familiar with Paxton’s plans said he planned to attend Trump’s official White House event Thursday in Denton. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the candidate’s schedule wasn’t public.
Vance campaigned in Lakeland, central Florida, with Republican Byron Donalds, who is running for governor against David Jolly, a Republican-turned-independent now running as a Democrat. Donalds’ campaign in heavily Republican Florida comes as Republicans there face turbulence, with voter concerns about affordability and data centers becoming central issues.
Campaign schedule and strategy
Vance had campaigned in Texas on Wednesday, rallying in Harlingen with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas. Vance acknowledged frustration over high prices and blamed the situation on the previous administration. “I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress,” he said. He added, “we have spent every single day fighting for you, diggin’ ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in.”
Trump was also scheduled to campaign Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska. At a meeting on Capitol Hill that week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles privately told Republican senators Trump would make a near-daily campaign sprint before the Nov. 3 midterms. Attendees described the schedule she showed them as extensive, with events almost every day across the country.
West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said White House officials were “acknowledging the headwinds,” but that “they have a strategy, and we have a strategy,” including money Trump’s operation would continue to deploy. Capito defended sending Trump to traditionally conservative areas, saying he could motivate Republican voters in places he visited and elsewhere because of his broad reach. “He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else,” she said.
A person familiar with the party’s strategy said Trump’s Oklahoma visit and a Friday stop in Alabama were meant to reach two targets with one stop. The person said Durant is close to the Dallas-Fort Worth media market, so Trump’s message could reach Texas voters, and he was expected to discuss Paxton while addressing voters in the neighboring state. The Friday stop in Mobile was intended to support Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s campaign for Alabama governor and shore up support in Florida’s adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds.