GREENVILLE, N.C. — President Donald Trump is doing what some didn’t expect: He’s crisscrossing the country to campaign for Republicans, spending his time — and his super PAC’s cash — to keep a blue wave from pulling the final two years of his presidency under.
The change in strategy, Trump said Tuesday night at a rally for Senate candidate Michael Whatley, was intentional.
“I’m doing something different,” he told the crowd. “I’m working like a dog, and I love being with you.”
Trump’s speech beneath a billowing American flag at a campaign rally in North Carolina was like so many others he’s given in recent weeks — one that wove together a tangle of seemingly unrelated threads rather than providing a targeted closing message for a crucial election. Instead of talking about rising consumer prices, he opined on what constitutes an attractive man, complained about election integrity and welcomed racing legend Richard Petty to talk about supporters being Trump’s “pit crew.”
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But as the president storms the country to stump for candidates in the election’s closing days, his itinerary has largely focused on red states and featured nods of acknowledgment to the problems that have cratered his approval rating to historic lows and set the scene for a potential blue wave. Republicans are betting that Trump’s message matters less than his presence does.
“The rallies are working for the people that they need to work for: the base,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and the host of “War Room,” a podcast popular among Trump supporters.
Shoring up Republican turnout in traditionally red areas of the country, Bannon and other Republican operatives tell The Washington Sun, is how Trump can best serve his party during the home stretch. The president remains the best motivator for getting Republicans to vote, even as his broader popularity has faded. And with control of Congress hanging in the balance, juicing turnout is desperately needed.
“He’s firing up the base,” said Alan Powell, a Greenville-area resident at Trump’s rally Tuesday. “That’s what matters.”
Democratic candidates, super PACs and committees are pouring money into states, races and districts that Republicans won by significant margins in 2024. Democratic Senate candidates in Kansas, Nebraska and Alaska — states Trump won in 2024 by 16 percentage points, 20 points and 13 points, respectively — are leading or within striking distance of the Republican incumbents in recent polling. Democratic operatives say the party can win the Senate majority, an outcome considered almost unthinkable just two years ago.
“The problem is we’re gonna lose the House in red states,” said a conservative operative, who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk openly about campaign dynamics. “That’s fucked up.”
Republicans believe Trump’s presence on the campaign trail is the best counter to Democratic momentum. Turnout in the midterms trends lower than in presidential election years, and that, Republican strategists say, allows Trump to affect the outcome by activating more of the people passionate enough to vote.
“The midterm elections are all about turnout, and there’s no one who energizes and engages Republican voters like President Donald J. Trump,” said RNC spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre. “Republicans are thinking outside the box to fight the typical midterm precedent.”
Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bannon pointed to an increase in the number of Trump’s plane-hangar rallies, likening them to the final stretch of his 2016 campaign.
“He identifies the way to do this is to get the base,” Bannon said, adding that he’s seen a demonstrable change in urgency among Trump’s most loyal voters over the past two weeks. “Not simply the vote, but to make the list for 10 people to get them out to start canvassing, calling the phone banks.”
Trump promised in September to spend the final month of the election on the road, stumping for Republican candidates. And he has. But instead of barnstorming traditional swing states, the president has spent more time bouncing across the comfortable confines of states that should be Trump Country — Alabama, Tennessee, Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska and Alaska among them.
Trump plans to visit South Carolina, Iowa and Florida before returning to Georgia this weekend and to Texas next week. He’ll also make a rare battleground stop in Michigan.
Even the stops in more competitive states and districts have landed in friendly regions. Dalton, Georgia, the site of his rambling rally on Friday, is nestled in the district Marjorie Taylor Greene represented before she left Congress. On Tuesday, Trump visited North Carolina’s 3rd District, which overwhelmingly elected Republican Rep. Greg Murphy in 2024.
Trump’s rare forays into battlegrounds have delighted Democrats and dismayed some Republicans.
“He should stick to the White House; he should just stay there,” one Republican operative in Georgia said about Trump’s visit. “All he’s doing is hurting Republicans.”
Asked about the same rally, a Georgia Democrat was gleeful.
“If Trump could come to Georgia every week, we’d invite him,” the operative said, adding that Trump’s presence could help deliver the gubernatorial race for Keisha Lance Bottoms to make her the state’s first Black governor.
Any impact from Trump’s rallies isn’t likely to stem from his messaging. His speeches have been long, winding variations of the same talk he’s given for months: dire warnings of coming communism brought by Democrats, a defense of the ongoing Iran war and blaming his predecessor for high prices — all mixed with pleas to act like he is on the ballot, tepid praise for whichever Republicans he is stumping for and insults for those candidates’ Democratic opponents.
Specific, state-based messaging — like using the red meat of gun-control policies while rallying in Montana — has been rare. And operatives are OK with that.
“Trump usually provides a lot of different messages,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, “but everyone’s used to that.”
The goal, Bonjean added, is to generate enthusiasm among the MAGA base.
“If they feel better about going to the polls because they heard from President Trump directly, then that’s a win,” he said.
Trump’s visit earlier this month to Tennessee, for example, was to Montgomery County, an area that state Rep. Jeremy Faison said has felt closer to purple than red this cycle.
“Strategically, he’s trying to fit in places like that that he knows he can hopefully turn out some red voters,” Faison said.
Trump said in a Tuesday social media post that he expects to spend over $400 million by Nov. 3, seemingly referring to spending from his affiliated super PACs. He added that $300 million has already been spent, including on advertising, voter turnout and rallies.
One Democratic operative said it was smart to focus on boosting turnout within Republican strongholds rather than risking alienating swing-state voters. It showed Trump is “reading the room,” they added.
But if Trump’s trips to Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan lead to more battleground rallies, that operative said they wouldn’t be sad. Another Democratic strategist took it even further after Trump’s rally in Kansas on Monday, where he was heckled by a protester screaming, “I fucking hate you!”
“If Trump wants to stay in Kansas for the next two weeks,” the strategist said, “I wouldn’t mind!”
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