Control of Congress in the November 3 midterms rested in part on whether Republicans could turn out their voters as they fought to keep their hold on Capitol Hill.
The RNC said Trump’s planned in-person appearances in Kansas and Iowa would no longer go ahead as scheduled because Republicans were in a strong position in both states.
Trump, 80, is the oldest elected president in US history. He had held 25 rallies during October after setting a goal of more than 30 for the month.
After returning from Washington, Trump held a rally in South Carolina on Thursday. A reporter then asked whether he was cancelling Saturday’s planned Kansas event because he was “sick of traveling”.
Trump replied: “You're sick to ask that question. You are sick” and “I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape, you look like hell”.
Republicans scrapped the Iowa and Kansas stops in favour of what Trump described as a “large number” of virtual “telerallies” across nearly 20 states. The two in-person events were later abruptly rescheduled.
Trump said he would not travel to Kansas because Senator Roger Marshall, the Republican senator from the state, “is doing very well”. Marshall faced Adam Hamilton, a Democrat mounting a robust bid to become the first Kansas Democrat to win a Senate seat in 94 years.
Trump’s final in-person rally was set for Florida on Friday. No rallies were planned for the final three days before Election Day Tuesday. During the final 72 hours of the 2018 midterm campaign, Trump held seven in-person rallies.
On Saturday night, Trump hosted a jungle-themed Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He boasted about the wealth of his guests and dismissed concern about the country’s direction, saying: “The country has never done better”.
More than 52 million votes had already been cast before Election Day. Trump urged Republicans to “pretend I'm on the ballot” to maximise turnout despite his mid-30s approval rating.
Karl Rove, the Republican strategist and commentator, said on The Journal Editorial Report: “With an approval rating in the mid-30s, pretending that he's on the ballot appeals to the people who are already strongly in his corner and likely to turn out”.
Polling data predicted that Democrats would regain the House of Representatives and could also make significant gains in the Senate by Election Day Tuesday.
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