Reports from SBS (citing CNN), Al Jazeera and The Independent say President Trump held 26 rallies in October, said he is working like a dog, and revived his canceled Iowa and Kansas stops as in-person rallies on Sunday, November 1.
SBS, relaying CNN, reported that Trump started on October 1 in Durant, Oklahoma, and toured Senate battlegrounds and Republican strongholds including Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Georgia and Florida, holding 26 local rallies in October alone. He said he is working like a dog to win the midterms and claimed no president has worked this hard for one. At a Daytona Beach, Florida, rally he said 28 consecutive days was tough, that he had hoped it would be his last, and that his voice was at 49.2 percent.
광고 문의 · 300×250The Independent put the month’s total at 25 rallies and said his voice sounded strained during 90-minute speeches in the final week. Counts differ by outlet depending on how events are tallied. The election is Tuesday, November 3, and Republicans hold narrow majorities of 53 of 100 Senate seats and 218 of 435 House seats.
Cancellation, reversal and a clash with a reporter
According to Al Jazeera, the Republican National Committee announced on October 29 that in-person events in Iowa and Kansas were canceled in favor of tele-rallies. RNC Chairman Joe Gruters called virtual events more efficient and said they reach more voters, describing a 72-hour sprint. The Independent reported that within a day the schedule changed again and the Kansas and Iowa rallies were back on, quoting a source as saying the rallies were back.
The trigger was a question from a Reuters reporter asking whether the cancellations were about health or fatigue. Trump replied that he did not feel he had to go to Kansas, said he felt perfect and told the reporter he was disgusting; Al Jazeera said he also insulted the reporter’s weight. Kyunghyang Shinmun likewise said he lashed out at reports that he was tired. At 80, questions about his health have trailed this campaign.
The state of the race and what remains
A Harvard model cited by Al Jazeera gives Democrats a 94 percent chance of taking the House and 74 percent of taking the Senate. In Kansas, a CNN poll had Democrat Adam Hamilton at 49 percent against Republican Sen. Roger Marshall at 45 percent, in a state that last elected a Democratic senator in 1932. Politico reported that Republicans are bracing for what could be a brutal Election Day.
The Independent, citing CNN, said some Republican officials were relieved by the cancellations, with one source saying he has not moved the needle anywhere. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff argued that candidates may not want Trump in their states or may want to avoid empty seats. These readings are the claims of the people involved, and SBS said Trump is expected to return to phone rallies the day before the election after Sunday’s in-person stops.