President Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, said he had agreed to return Kansas and Iowa rallies to his pre-midterm schedule after calls from both states urged him to appear in person. “I got a call from both states, Kansas and Iowa. We have a couple of races that are very important, and they said if you could go, it would be better than a tele-rally. And I tried to talk them out of it. I said, 'What about a tele-rally?' But they asked me, so I'm going to do two on Sunday.”
The decision reverses the Republican National Committee’s cancellation of the two events on Thursday evening. The committee had said Trump would use tele-rallies to reach more voters. A source said the events had been “rearranged for scheduling purposes to accommodate dozens of additional tele-rallies that were recently added to the President's schedule”.
Trump’s original plan had placed him in Salina, Kansas, on Saturday and Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday, before a 72-hour run of tele-rallies. He said he had worried that a Saturday appearance would clash with college football.
On Thursday, Trump had said: “I'm not going to Kansas because he's doing very well” and “I don't feel I have to go to Kansas”. On Friday, however, he called Senator Roger Marshall “fantastic” in an interview with a Kansas City radio station.
Marshall, a Republican, is seeking re-election in Kansas against the Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor. Trump called Hamilton a “radical” who has “caused turmoil with the church because he's so liberal”.
In Iowa, Republican Representative Ashley Hinson, who serves in the House, is running for the Senate against Democrat Josh Turek. The RealClearPolitics polling average puts the Iowa contest in a dead heat, while Hamilton is slightly ahead of Marshall in Kansas.
Both restored events are scheduled for Sunday. The Iowa rally will take place in Cedar Rapids rather than Dubuque. Trump is also scheduled to hold at least 19 tele-rallies before Election Day on Nov. 3.
Trump has headlined 25 rallies so far this month, according to Associated Press data. More than 43 million people had voted early in person or returned mail ballots by Friday, nearly 10 million more than in 2022. Early voting is up roughly 30% in Iowa and Kansas.
Elsewhere, more than 6.3 million Texans had voted early as of Wednesday, compared with 4.2 million at the same point four years ago, a 50% increase. Early voting in South Carolina is up 83%.
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