Trump rallies in Iowa, Kansas to maintain Republican control of US Senate

The trips mark President Trump’s return to the campaign trail after taking a break at his ⁠Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump is set to rally in Iowa and Kansas, two Republican-leaning states he previously won, in a bid to maintain Republican control of the United States Senate.

His first stop is Sunday afternoon in Dubuque, Iowa, where Republicans are battling to retain a critical Senate seat and the governorship. Trump won Iowa by double digits in 2024.

The 2nd Congressional District, which includes Dubuque, has also become competitive as the GOP works to protect its fragile majority in the US House of Representatives. The battle is on between Gen Z Republican candidate Joe Mitchell and Democrat Lindsay James.

On Sunday, Trump also plans to visit Salina, Kansas, which last elected a Democratic senator in 1932 but now faces an unexpectedly ⁠⁠close race between incumbent Republican Roger Marshall and Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, a prominent pastor.

The trips mark Trump’s return to the campaign trail after taking a break at his ⁠⁠Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Saturday. He has spent weeks campaigning across multiple US states.

Republicans abruptly cancelled the Iowa and Kansas stops late Thursday, only to reschedule them. A source close to the Trump administration told Al Jazeera on Friday that Trump will be headlining the previously cancelled rallies in person.

“Rallies are BACK ON!” the source said. “No one works harder, fights harder, or loves the American people more than President Donald J. Trump!”

Polls show Democrats tied with or leading Republicans in many of the states’ races, and Trump’s approval among rural Americans fell to a new low of 45 percent in October, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

In this campaign, Trump has focused largely on states he has dominated before as voters, including previous supporters, question the economic fallout of his decision to impose tariffs and launch the war in Iran.

Thirty-five Senate seats and all 435 House seats are on the ballot on Tuesday. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority and a narrow edge in the House. Losing either chamber would let Democrats block Trump’s agenda for his final two years in office and launch investigations of an administration that has so far faced largely compliant Republican majorities.

More than 52 million Americans have already voted in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, a record for a midterm and up from nearly 46 million who voted before Election Day in 2022.