President Donald Trump brought his campaign rally to Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday to help Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts win reelection, even as his administration spent $20 million in Department of Homeland Security funds on ads promoting Trump and his claimed accomplishments. The rally and the government-funded megaphone are parts of the same midterm contest: one asks voters to back Republicans; the other carries the president’s message on the public’s tab.
Independent candidate Dan Osborn has held meetings in all 93 Nebraska counties and criticized Ricketts for not holding town halls. “It’s tough,” Osborn told CNN, describing what he hears about the cost of living. He said rising costs usually rank as the first concern people raise at his town halls.
The campaign and the public purse
Ricketts told The Associated Press last week, “The president’s coming to Nebraska to help me campaign, so I can get reelected.” He is seeking his first full six-year Senate term against Osborn. Ricketts entered the seat after Gov. Jim Pillen appointed him to fill Sen. Ben Sasse’s seat when Sasse left to run the University of Florida in 2023; voters later elected Ricketts to the seat. Ricketts served as Nebraska’s governor from 2015 to 2023; his family founded TD Ameritrade and owns Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs.
Trump described the campaign schedule as a 32-day blitz of rallies. CNN reported that the itinerary included Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, all states he carried by double digits. His Nebraska appearance was scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds.
Over the 10 days described in CNN’s report, the administration ran more than a dozen government-funded ads, including during NFL games on Sept. 27. The ads used $20 million from the Department of Homeland Security. One matched an ad from Trump’s 2024 campaign and warned of a “final battle” against “the deep state,” Marxists and other “villains.” The administration called the commercials “public service announcements.” Trump said they were “for the country.”
The administration has also sent $500 Affordable Care Act rebate checks to nearly 1 million Americans in 30 states, saying the Biden administration had overcharged recipients under the law. On Oct. 2, Trump announced plans to divert money from the $2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund, established by Congress in 2008 to improve Medicare services, for payments to seniors. CNN reported the planned payments as $90 to about 20 million seniors to help pay Medicare Part B premiums.
Costs on the ground, promises from the stage
Rural voters who have backed Trump and Republicans in recent elections have cited persistently high fuel and grocery costs. Ricketts told CNN, “There’s no doubt that high fuel prices put a strain on the budgets for every Nebraska family.”
Trump’s policy on foreign beef imports has also angered cattle growers in the agriculture-rich state. In August, he decided to allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the United States with lower tariffs, saying the move was meant to reduce grocery-store beef prices. Nebraska cattle growers opposed the policy, arguing imports would undercut them. Ricketts said, “The plan to import low-quality foreign beef is not helping Nebraska ranchers.” He urged the White House to change it and look for longer-term ways to increase the herd and lower beef prices for consumers.
Grand Island sits in the state’s 3rd Congressional District, which Trump won with 76% of the vote in 2024. The district covers 80 of Nebraska’s 93 counties, where cattle ranching and farming are central to the economy. Trump won Hall County, which includes Grand Island, by 37 points. He skipped Nebraska’s two other congressional districts, including the competitive 2nd District around Omaha, sometimes called the “blue dot.”
Trump’s campaign travel also sought to frame the midterms as a choice between the parties rather than a referendum on him and his administration. In Ohio, he urged supporters to vote and said, “we’re going to shove it up their ass.” At weekend campaign stops, he didn’t mention rising costs. He told an Ohio crowd, “If the Democrats win, you will end up in a 1929-style Great Depression.” Osborn said the difference from his 2024 campaign included “the war in Iran and costs that are skyrocketing.”
Who gets to shape the election
The contest is unfolding alongside efforts by the administration to change election rules and expand federal authority over voting. Trump signed an executive order establishing voter ID rules to prove citizenship, but voting-rights groups sued and judges blocked key provisions. A later order sought federal control over mail ballots; the Supreme Court stopped the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the new rules for this election. Congress didn’t pass Trump’s proposed voter ID bill, and courts and Congress blocked his sought-after requirements for proof of citizenship and limits on mail voting.
The administration was investigating noncitizens registered to vote. Homeland Security Investigations official Matthew Millhollin said 160 people had been arrested as of mid-September. Voting advocates said those cases represented a small fraction of the population and accused the administration of sowing doubts about the election. Senate Democrats wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Sept. 25, saying the administration’s actions were “intentionally undermining Americans’ trust in the 2026 midterm elections.”
David Becker, who runs the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, said, “When the president has actually tried to enact policy, he’s been blocked every time.” He described the administration’s election-case record as a “remarkable record of failure,” while warning, “This should not be normalized.” Adav Noti of the Campaign Legal Center said the president was trying to use presidential powers to control election results and that “almost all of those efforts are illegal.” Courts have blocked measures, but the administration has kept pressing. The campaign rolls on.