January 1, Trump Launches Midterm Tour in Rock-Solid Red States First

Wyatt’s Take

• President Trump is starting his October rallies in the safest Republican states to fire up the base and drive turnout.
• Durant, Oklahoma and Mobile, Alabama both delivered huge Trump wins in 2024 and sit near bigger media markets that stretch into battleground territory.
• The early stops prove Trump knows how to energize low-propensity voters that Democrats are struggling to reach.

President Trump is adding a string of campaign stops to his October calendar as Republicans prepare for the midterm elections — but his first destinations will be some of the reddest states in the country.

Trump is scheduled to hold rallies in Durant, Oklahoma, on Thursday, October 1, and Mobile, Alabama, on Friday, October 2, according to the Republican National Committee. The two states gave Trump roughly two-thirds of their votes in 2024, with Trump carrying every county in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma rally will be held at the Choctaw Event Center and is being hosted by the Trump 47 Committee, the joint fundraising operation connecting Trump and the Republican Party. Trump has endorsed Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Mazzei, who is running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson.

The Mobile rally also lands next door to one of Republicans’ best chances to pick up a House seat. The city borders Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, where Republican state Rep. Rhett Marques is challenging Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures under a GOP-drawn map that the Supreme Court allowed the state to reinstate this year.

But the two deep-red states are only the beginning of Trump’s reported midterm travel plans.

According to people familiar with the plans, Trump is also expected to campaign in Iowa, Florida, Texas, and Alaska before Election Day. Trump has indicated a desire to campaign for Republican Senate candidates Ken Paxton in Texas and Dan Sullivan in Alaska, while Iowa and Florida have emerged as additional areas of Republican concern.

Trump has also pledged to campaign for 35 of the most competitive House and Senate races before November. Neither the White House nor the RNC has released a full schedule for those visits, though rallies in more traditional battleground states are reportedly expected to begin October 3, immediately following his tour of friendly states.

The decision to open the October push in Oklahoma and Alabama comes as Republicans spend increasing time and money defending territory long considered safely Republican.

In Iowa, Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson has publicly broken with Trump over the Iran war. In Texas, Paxton is running a closely contested Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. And in Ohio, Republican Sen. Jon Husted is facing former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in another closely watched contest.

Republicans say Trump’s presence in Oklahoma and Alabama is intended to generate turnout rather than simply reinforce states that are already safely Republican.

A Republican official familiar with the planning called the locations “very strategic,” saying Trump is “hitting places where we want to drive turnout.” The official also noted that Durant sits near the Texas border and reaches the Dallas-Fort Worth media market, while Mobile’s proximity to the Florida Panhandle gives the rally potential reach beyond Alabama.

“The President’s ability to engage with and activate low-propensity voters is unmatched,” RNC spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre said, according to the Associated Press. “That’s why he’ll be barnstorming the country to activate the voters we need to win in November.”

With Election Day just over five weeks away, the president’s campaign calendar is rapidly filling up. The question is how quickly the red-state stops give way to the battlegrounds that will ultimately determine control of Congress.

Wyatt Matters

Working families in the heartland know strong leadership when they see it. President Trump’s decision to start his tour in places that already stand with him shows he understands how to build the kind of turnout that keeps government power close to the people instead of in the hands of bureaucrats in Washington.