Donald Trump seems to be playing defense with his choice of midterm campaign stops in the coming weeks. He’ll soon travel to states where Republicans are suddenly having to defend Senate seats.
Next month, the 80-year-old president will travel to four states where Republicans are supposed to be safe but are suddenly facing competitive Senate races: Texas, Alaska, Iowa, and Florida.
In Texas, where a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide office in over three decades, James Talarico leads Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton, 50 percent to 44 percent, according to a Marist poll released this week.
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads incumbent Dan Sullivan by four and five points, according to two polls released two weeks ago.
Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek, who has Barack Obama’s coveted endorsement, leads Ashley Hinson by eight points in a Marist poll conducted last week.
In Florida, Trump’s home state, polls have favored the GOP, whose Senate and gubernatorial candidates held double-digit leads in a Stetson University survey this week.
Next week, Trump will make very different kinds of stops in deep-red states that have not been a focus of concerned Republicans’ efforts to maintain their slim majorities in Congress. He will appear in Durant, Oklahoma, next Thursday, the Republican National Committee announced. The next day he will stop in Mobile, Alabama, Politico reported. The Trump 47 Committee, the president’s joint fundraiser with the RNC, is hosting each event.
Each state widely backed Trump in the last three presidential elections, meaning the president is sure to revel in past victories. But the utility of stopping there ahead of the midterms is questionable, given how few—if any—races of importance are competitive. Those stops look more like emotional support rallies than attempts to shore up vulnerable Republican candidates.
Each state’s Senate contest is rated “solid” Republican by the Cook Political Report. So are the gubernatorial races. Of the combined 12 House contests in both states, 10 are considered “solid” Republican, and one “solid” Democrat. The outlier is in Alabama’s second congressional district, which the GOP state legislature redrew to carry out Trump’s redistricting effort. The seat, currently held by a Democrat, is now considered “likely” to turn red.
Beginning Oct. 3, Trump will make stops in other “traditional” battleground states, a source told Politico.
The White House referred questions about the president’s schedule to the RNC, which did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast.
Spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre told Politico: “While Democrats squabble over the last two cents their party has to spare, the president is barnstorming the country, energizing our base, and supercharging Republican candidates in key races and beyond. We have the resources to spend, and Republicans are full steam ahead to protect and expand our majorities.”
With early voting already underway in some states, and amid a flurry of troubling polls on affordability and the Iran war, Republicans have been forced to spend on races that had once been seen as theirs to win. A leaked memo from the Senate GOP’s campaign arm is urging donors to open their wallets for candidates in Alaska, Iowa, and Ohio, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown leads by four points, according to RealClearPolitics’ polling average
Meanwhile, Republicans have all but conceded two Senate seats they had hoped to win not long ago: Georgia and North Carolina.
