📲Follow the midterms & more in the NPR App Early in September, President Trump gathered Republicans running in competitive races for a dinner in the White House Rose Garden. Prime aged beef burgers were on the menu as the president made a pledge to spend the final month before the midterms campaigning for the approximately 30 Republican candidates in attendance. "I'm going to go to every one of those 35 places and we're going to see if we can get everyone elected," Trump said confidently.
The White House hasn't clarified which 35 places the president was talking about that night. Since then, Trump has campaigned with fewer than a third of those candidates. Rather than focus on swing states and swing districts as the president said he would, his travel schedule has taken him to a lot of Republican territory.
Trump's itinerary is both a reflection of where he can help (and where he can't) but also of a shifting landscape where even red state Republicans need a boost. On the tarmac between rally stops in Arizona and Montana this week, Trump attempted to spin his visits to states he won decisively just two years ago as a matter of gratitude. "So, I do it to thank them," Trump said.
"I also do it because we have some great people there that are running and I want to make sure they win." He went on to bemoan the drop in Republican turnout in years when he isn't on the ballot, something Trump and his team are trying to counteract with an October campaign rally blitz that has taken him to Ohio (twice), Texas (twice), Oklahoma and even Tennessee. "What the hell am I doing in Tennessee?" Trump mused from stage to wild cheers. Earlier this week, the president took an eight hour flight to Alaska to campaign for Republicans, Sen.
Nick Begich, both of whom face races that are too close for comfort in a state Trump won by 13 points in 2024. "This is worth the 8 hours in a plane," Trump said to an adoring crowd. "And don't forget I've got 8 hours going back.
Give me credit for that." In fact, he made two more stops on the way back and spent the night at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas. The Republican National Committee has announced he'll be campaigning in Kansas Monday, which has a toss-up U.S. Senate race, something few would have anticipated even a month ago.
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