DURANT, Okla. — David Coleman doesn’t know much about the Republican candidates who are running in November. But he knows President Trump, and he trusts that the president won’t steer him wrong. The 54-year-old Oklahoman made his way to Trump’s midterm rally in Durant, Okla., on Thursday planning to support whomever Trump brought onstage with him.
Voters like Coleman — who are fiercely loyal to Trump but only loosely attached to the rest of the Republican ticket — are part of those whom the president is trying to target in the final stretch before the Nov. 3 election. Rather than prioritizing visits to battleground districts, which will decide which party controls Congress, Trump is rallying in Republican strongholds such as Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama, betting that his presence will be enough to energize a base that may be thinking about sitting out the election because his name isn’t on the ballot. In Oklahoma, Trump told the crowd to imagine he is on the ballot because the future of his “America First” agenda depends on Republicans getting out to vote.
He then urged them to vote for GOP candidates like Senate candidates Ken Paxton of Texas and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma. At a Rose Garden dinner with Republican lawmakers last month, he pledged to campaign in the country’s 35 most competitive districts. But in many of those races, the president is proving to be a political liability as his his approval dwindles, even among Republicans.
In Texas, Paxton, who is locked in a tight race against Democrat James Talarico, has lamented that Trump’s GOP convention in Dallas hurt him, according to a recording obtained by the New York Times. Since the report, Trump has told supporters to vote for Paxton “whether you love him or not” even while he said that “he can be a pain in the ass.” “We need Ken so badly, that’s why I am here,” Trump told a crowd in Texas on Thursday, while noting that it would be a “horror” if Republicans lost the Senate seat to Talarico. Democrats, meanwhile, are making heavy investments in winning back voters they lost to Trump in 2024, including Latino voters in south Texas.
Some of those voters have said they feel betrayed by Trump’s policies on immigration and the economy. Trump has dismissed the poll findings that he is losing the Latino vote. Asked what his message was to Latino voters who are dismayed by his policies, he said: “We have to do what we have to do.” The president has also brushed off comments that his unpopularity among Americans may be hurting Republican candidates, saying that “everybody that has me wins.” But in recent days, Trump has publicly said Republicans are “worried” about several races, including those in Michigan, Texas and “a few other states.” These concerns come as even the most ardent Trump supporters grow concerned about the economy, particularly the cost of gas.
Ronnie Smith, 77, has voted for Trump every time he has been on the ballot, and his support for the president has not wavered. But, he said, “the only thing that I think is hurting him is the cost of diesel.” Gas prices in the U.S. have soared during the seven-month Iran war, with the national average for a gallon of diesel reaching $6.37 on Friday, according to AAA. The cost of diesel hit a record $6.52 on Sept. 22.
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