President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, but they will be heading to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
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they → hit → elections
Trump’s travel on Thursday to Texas and Oklahoma kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
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president → kick → Nov.
His visit comes as Vance at the same time will be stumping in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races.
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candidates → come → races
Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices and his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
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war → express → Iran
According to Trump, his party’s headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done.
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he → accord → job
“We’re not getting the word out,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
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he → get → Wednesday
“I mean, we’re just not getting it.”
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we → mean → it
That’s why, he said, he will be traveling all over and trying to persuade GOP voters to pretend his name is on the ballot.
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name → ’ → ballot
“I’m going out because nobody’s selling it,” Trump said.
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Trump → go → it
Democrats say Trump, Republicans are desperate
Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that “the president is barnstorming the country, energizing our base, and supercharging Republican candidates in battleground districts and beyond.
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president → say → districts
We have the resources to spend, and Republicans are full steam ahead to protect and expand our majorities.”
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Republicans → have → majorities
The Democratic National Committee said, “Trump and Vance are desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat.”
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Republicans → say → defeat
“Donald Trump and JD Vance started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher, and now — in the final stretch to the midterms — they’re desperately pleading with voters to ’give (them) another chance,’” said DNC Deputy Communications Director Kendall Witmer.
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Witmer → start → chance
In Oklahoma, Trump will campaign with Republican Mike Mazzei, who is running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson in the race for governor.
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who → campaign → governor
Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said Trump’s campaign rally shows that Republicans “are in full-on panic mode.”
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Republicans → say → mode
“This race continues to get more competitive — and national Republicans are right to be worried about Mazzei,” he said.
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he → continue → Mazzei
The event will be held on the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, putting him in the company of just a handful of U.S. presidents who have visited tribal nations while in office.
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who → hold → office
Before his evening Oklahoma stop, Trump will tour a truck manufacturing facility in Texas, where Republicans are spending heavily to try to bolster state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race.
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Republicans → tour → race
Paxton faces a very competitive challenge from Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
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Paxton → face → Talarico
Paxton was planning to be with Trump at the official White House event Thursday in Denton, two campaign officials familiar with Paxton’s plans said on condition of anonymity to discuss the candidate’s schedule before it was made public.
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it → plan → schedule
Vance is also stumping for GOP candidates
Trump will be campaigning in more politically competitive areas in the days and weeks ahead as he embarks on his travel blitz, but Republican officials will not send him to places where they think his presence could drag down their candidates, according to a person familiar with the party’s strategy who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
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they → stump → anonymity
Trump’s Oklahoma visit, and likewise one on Friday to Alabama, are aimed at hitting two targets with one stop, the person said.
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person → aim → stop
Republican officials have noted that Durant is close to the Dallas and Fort Worth media market, meaning Trump’s message will also be carried to Texas voters, and he’s expected to talk about Paxton even while addressing voters in the neighboring state.
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he → note → state
His Friday stop in Mobile, Alabama, is aimed at boosting not only Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for Alabama governor, but shoring up support in Florida’s adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds.
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he → aim → Donalds
Donalds is running for Florida governor against David Jolly, the Republican-turned-independent who is now running as a Democrat.
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who → run → Democrat
Donalds’ campaign in heavily-GOP Florida comes as Republicans there have faced some turbulence and voter concerns about affordability and data centers have become central issues.
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concerns → come → affordability
While Trump is in Oklahoma and Texas, Vance will stump with Donalds in central Florida on Thursday.
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Vance → stump → Thursday
Vance’s visit to Lakeland comes a day after the vice president campaigned in Texas.
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president → come → Texas
He rallied with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas.
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who → rally → Texas
Vance, speaking in Harlingen, Texas on Wednesday, acknowledged broader discontentment over the high prices in the U.S., but shifted the blame away from Trump and Republicans.
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Vance → speak → Trump
“I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress,” he said, but ”we have spent every single day fighting for you, diggin’ ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in.”
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Biden → know → us
Trump will also campaign on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio; and Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.
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Trump → campaign → Island
Trump expected to campaign for GOP almost daily
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Trump → expect → GOP
In a meeting on Capitol Hill this week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described privately to GOP senators that Trump will have a near-daily sprint of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
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Trump → describe → midterms
Wiles showed Republicans the president’s upcoming travel schedule, which attendees described as extensive and almost every day, all across the country.
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attendees → show → country
West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said White House officials are “acknowledging the headwinds” but that “they have a strategy, and we have a strategy,” including money that the president’s operation will continue to deploy.
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operation → say → that
Capito also defended the White House’s plan to send Trump to traditionally conservative territory, arguing that he can motivate the Republican base not just in where he travels but elsewhere in the country because Trump has such a broad reach.
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Trump → defend → reach
“He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else,” Capito said.
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Capito → get → anybody
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Associated Press reporters Seung Min Kim in Washington, Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
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Kim → contribute → report
The Aporia
