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- President Trump is holding midterm rallies in GOP strongholds to energize supporters as Republican concerns grow ahead of midterms.
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concerns → click → midterms
- Rather than visiting competitive districts, Trump has been traveling to Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama.
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Trump → visit → Texas
David Coleman doesn’t know much about the Republican candidates who are running in November.
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who → know → November
But he knows President Trump, and he trusts that the president won’t steer him wrong.
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president → know → him
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.
“I am going to ask ChatGPT what their name is and vote for them,” Coleman said as he and thousands of others waited for the president to appear.
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president → make → others
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.
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president → attach → 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.
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name → prioritize → 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.
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future → tell → Republicans
He then urged them to vote for GOP candidates like Senate candidates Ken Paxton of Texas and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.
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He → urge → Oklahoma
“You have to get out and vote,” Trump said.
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Trump → have → ?
“You can’t assume they are going to win.”
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they → assume → ?
The red-state itinerary is a departure from what Trump initially promised to do in the 30 days leading up to the midterms.
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Trump → promise → midterms
At a Rose Garden dinner with Republican lawmakers last month, he pledged to campaign in the country’s 35 most competitive districts.
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he → pledge → districts
But in many of those races, the president is proving to be a political liability as his his approval dwindles, even among Republicans.
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approval → prove → 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.
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convention → lock → 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.”
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he → tell → 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.
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Republicans → need → Talarico
Democrats, meanwhile, are making heavy investments in winning back voters they lost to Trump in 2024, including Latino voters in south Texas.
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they → make → Texas
Some of those voters have said they feel betrayed by Trump’s policies on immigration and the economy.
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they → say → immigration
Trump has dismissed the poll findings that he is losing the Latino vote.
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he → dismiss → 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.”
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we → ask → what
The president has also brushed off comments that his unpopularity among Americans may be hurting Republican candidates, saying that “everybody that has me wins.”
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that → brush → me
But in recent days, Trump has publicly said Republicans are “worried” about several races, including those in Michigan, Texas and “a few other states.”
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Republicans → say → Michigan
These concerns come as even the most ardent Trump supporters grow concerned about the economy, particularly the cost of gas.
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supporters → come → 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.
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support → vote → president
But, he said, “the only thing that I think is hurting him is the cost of diesel.”
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I → say → 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.
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average → soar → AAA
The cost of diesel hit a record $6.52 on Sept. 22.
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cost → hit → Sept.
Smith says he regularly hears complaints about the cost of fuel from trucker friends who have long commutes for work.
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who → say → work
But he said he is sure Trump can “take care of it.”
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Trump → say → it
On Friday, Trump announced that the world’s wealthiest industrial nations had agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and fuel products from their strategic stockpiles in the coming weeks, a move that he is expected to tout in his upcoming midterm rallies.
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he → announce → rallies
In these rallies, Trump has repeatedly said that he believes his administration has been doing a “tremendous” job with the economy, the problem is that “we’re doing an extremely poor job at promotion.”
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we → say → promotion
A Republican source close to the White House said the president visited Durant because of its proximity to the Texas border, with the hope of helping candidates in both states.
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president → say → states
Trump’s swing through GOP strongholds is seen as a way to get the word out to his base.
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swing → see → base
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters this week that Republicans “need the president to turn out voters that are his voters.”
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that → tell → voters
“In a non-presidential year, in a midterm election, that challenge is always voter turnout,” he said.
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he → say → election
“In this case you have a lot of voters out there who may not be inclined to go out there and vote.”
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who → have → voters
Sylvia Sigler, 66, a school cafeteria worker who attended Trump’s Oklahoma rally Thursday, said she normally votes in local elections but has not voted in a federal election since 2016.
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she → attend → 2016
When asked what would motivate her to get out and vote this November, she contemplated what to say.
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she → ask → what
“I haven’t thought about it, but maybe the economy,” she said.
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she → think → it
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
