By MICHELLE L. PRICE, SEUNG MIN KIM and JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — As early voting surges across the country, President Donald Trump is reshuffling his weekend schedule to rally Republicans in two states with critical Senate races, underscoring his party’s push to drive turnout ahead of Election Day.
The Republican president will now visit Iowa and Kansas for back-to-back campaign rallies on Sunday, according to a person familiar with his plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss his schedule. Both rallies had previously been canceled.
The last-minute reversal comes amid a nationwide surge in early voting. Nearly 10 million more Americans had cast ballots five days before Election Day than at the same point in 2022, according to an Associated Press analysis of voting data. The increases have been particularly pronounced in states with competitive Senate races, including Iowa and Kansas, where early voting is up roughly 30%.
Democrats and Republicans each hope that rise favors them as they fight for control of Congress in an election that has turned largely on affordability issues and the president’s unpopularity. At the start of the month, Trump promised a marathon sprint of his signature rallies to shore up Republican candidates, and he has headlined 25 of them so far in October.
Weekend rallies back on after Trump says, ‘I don’t feel I have to go’
The president on Thursday furiously pushed back at the notion that the initial cancellation of his Kansas rally, which became public as he was returning to Washington from another campaign event in South Carolina, was tied to fatigue or his health. He lashed out at a reporter who asked about the change in his plans for Kansas, where Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is seeking reelection.
“I’m not going to Kansas because he’s doing very well,” Trump said, seeming to refer to Marshall. The president added that “I feel perfect” and that “I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas.”
The Republican National Committee initially said in canceling the rallies that Trump would do telerallies instead to reach more voters. But the person familiar with the latest plans said the Iowa and Kansas rallies have been rearranged to accommodate the new telerallies added to Trump’s schedule.
Trump’s original plans had him in Salina, Kansas, on Saturday and in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday. Then the plans shifted so he would instead do a “72-hour sprint” of phone rallies, meant so the president could reach more voters nationwide, according to the RNC.
Sunday’s rally in Iowa will now be held in Cedar Rapids instead of Dubuque, according to another person familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share information that was not yet public.
Both Kansas and Iowa are home to battleground Senate races that will help determine whether Republicans hold onto their narrow majority in the chamber in the midterm elections.
Trump has already traveled to both states this month to boost Marshall in Kansas and Republican Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, who currently serves in the House.
In an interview with a Kansas City radio station on Friday, Trump called Marshall “fantastic” and credited the senator for pushing his administration on policies benefiting Kansas farmers such as expanding tax-free use of red-dyed diesel.
Trump criticized Marshall’s Democratic challenger, Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton, as a “radical” who has “caused turmoil with the church because he’s so liberal.” Hamilton has said that if Jesus were standing before them now, “Roger Marshall would call him ‘woke.’”
Both parties hope a surge in voting favors them
Early voting is significantly outpacing the last midterm election, with millions more Americans casting ballots in advance.
In Texas, where voters are deciding closely watched Senate, House and governor’s races, more than 6.3 million Texans had voted early as of Wednesday, compared with 4.2 million at the same point four years ago, a 50% increase.
Advance voting has also increased more than 30% from the same point four years ago in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Kansas, states with competitive Senate races. In South Carolina, where voters are choosing a successor to the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, early voting is up 83%.
Historic amounts of money have flowed into this year’s midterm elections. Republicans have expressed concerns about their voters not turning out amid voter dissatisfaction with Trump and high costs, issues Democrats have focused on in their campaigns.
In Michigan’s Senate race, the wrong Democrat remains in the headlines
Michigan Democrats hoped to put a bruising Senate primary behind them after progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in August.
They’ve had no such luck as Election Day approaches.
Stevens reemerged in the final week before the general election, appearing on CNN to reaffirm that she would vote for El-Sayed while calling on him to repair relations with Jewish and Black voters. Her appearance came hours after her fiance said he would vote for El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
Then on Friday, after agreeing to campaign alongside El-Sayed and Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina in Detroit on Sunday, Stevens released a lengthy statement on social media criticizing her former rival once again. She called on him to condemn an advertisement linking U.S. support for Israel to rising grocery prices and address concerns about his past rhetoric.
“Abdul promises to get money out of politics,” Stevens wrote. “He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.”
El-Sayed has apologized for some of his past comments while attempting to unify Democrats.
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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.