DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) – President Donald Trump closed the last weekend of an eventful period midterm campaign with rallies in two states, he has won handily in the past while Democrats began to fracture in Michiganrisking their efforts to retake the Senate.
The president was in Salina, Kansas, and Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday. Republicans in both states are fending off robust challenges from Democrats, threatening Republican majorities in the Senate when they are already in danger in the House.
But in Iowa, Trump insisted that Republicans were poised for resounding victories on Election Day Tuesday.
“We’re going to elect ‘America First’ Republicans across the board,” he said at the start of a speech that lasted two hours, long even for Trump, known for his long, freewheeling rallies.
He later arrived late in Kansas, where Air Force One performed a theatrical flyby before landing for an open-air gathering at the airport. Hundreds of people began leaving in the middle of his nearly 90-minute speech in rural central Kansas, which did not end until around 10 p.m. local time.
“This is our last stop. We’re closing it tonight,” Trump said. He has crisscrossed the country since Oct. 1, holding more than two dozen rallies in 19 states in support of the Republican Party. He is expected to give his closing speech midterm elections Monday in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
With more than 54 million votes already cast, these trips reflect the Republican Party’s defensive stance as the election becomes a referendum on Trump’s second term in the White House.
They are a reminder of how radically the political environment has changed since Trump’s last campaign. In 2024, he worked to flip states that previously supported Democrats. Joe Biden in 2020. This year, Trump has focused largely on states he previously dominated, as voters, including his former supporters, question the economic fallout from his decision to impose tariffs and launch war in Iran.
Democrats grapple with infighting in Michigan
But Democrats, increasingly optimistic about their prospects, faced their own challenges.
In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s former opponent in the Senate primary, Haley Stevens, appeared with Republican Mike Rogers at a church service and later endorsed his campaign. Stevens, a lawmaker who has criticized El-Sayed as insufficiently supportive of Israel, said she supported Rogers after an invitation to a Democratic event was canceled.
“Our Democratic Senate candidate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and should stay away,” Stevens said in a video announcing his support. “And he’s right. And that’s why I’m endorsing Mike Rogers for U.S. Senate today.”
The surprising move forced other Democrats to reiterate their support for El-Sayed. Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, said the party was “united in our support.” U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the party would “stand firmly” behind El-Sayed and “reject any attempt to divide Democrats.”
Earlier, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, one of El-Sayed’s main supporters, dismissed concerns about a Democratic divide.
“Haley Stevens lost a very, very close primary. I can understand being upset about that,” the Vermont independent said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “But from what I can see, all across the state, people are standing up, they’re going to stand with Abdul.”
Michigan plays a key role in Democratic efforts to regain control of the U.S. Senate. If they don’t hold on to that seat on Tuesday, they would face additional pressure to win elections in deeper Republican territories like Texas, Kansas, Ohio or Iowa.
Midterm elections test Trump’s strength within the Republican Party
The final stretch of the campaign has largely become a test of Trump’s enduring strength within a Republican Party that he reshaped in his image a decade ago. He hopes to energize voters like Jon Lutz, a Dubuque resident who watches Trump videos all the time but attended his first rally on Sunday.
Lutz said he is pleased with Trump’s record in the second term and wants Republicans to maintain control of the House and Senate so his agenda advances.
“He did what he said he would do,” said the 60-year-old civil engineer. “I want him to continue.”
Wendy Kuenzler also saw Trump for the first time on Sunday. Waiting in line at the concession stand, the 44-year-old from Burlington said she feels Iowa is at a crossroads with multiple competitive elections. She plans to support U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson.
Kuenzler said she doesn’t place blame for rising gas and grocery prices on Trump. “He’s about to make things right,” she said.
In Kansas, Liz Wagner, a 59-year-old restaurant owner, traveled 166 miles from her hometown of Atchison to attend Trump’s outdoor rally at the Salina, Kansas, airport. She said she agreed “with everything he says.”
“I want people to get up, go to work and stop reaching out,” she said while waiting to attend the rally. “Democrats like to hand things out.”
Trump is betting he can weather the headwinds facing Republicans this year by relentlessly showing up in front of his most loyal supporters. But the more than two dozen rallies he held in October were sometimes overshadowed by Trump’s meandering asides and sometimes graphic descriptions of the physiques of the politicians he supported.
Trump suspended rallies Saturday and spent the evening at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at a jungle-themed Halloween party, where he bragged about the wealth of his guests and brushed aside concerns about the direction the country was heading.
“The country has never done better,” he said.
Outgoing representative. Don BaconR-Neb., raised concerns Sunday that the president’s policies, particularly tariffs, could burden the GOP.
“Tariffs are not popular here in the Midwest,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I tried to tell the president.”
Bacon predicted that “there would be a debate within the party” about its future in the event of significant losses this week.
The senator Tim Scott of South Carolina was more optimistic. The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee expressed confidence that Republicans would retain the Senate and accepted Trump’s role in the campaign.
“There’s no doubt that President Trump himself has said that the midterm elections are about him,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “His agenda, without question, is on the ballot.”
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Sloan reported from Washington and Hanna from Salina, Kansas. Associated Press writers Corey Williams in Detroit and Will Weissert, Joey Cappelletti and Jonathan J. Cooper in Washington contributed to this report.
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