By Townhall Chicago News Staff
President Donald Trump rallied Republican supporters in Perry, Georgia, on Friday, the first stop of a five-state campaign push through Florida, Michigan, Mississippi and Texas before the November midterm elections.
The multi-state itinerary signals which Senate races Republicans consider most competitive heading into the final stretch of the campaign, with control of the chamber at stake.
“President Trump rallies supporters in Perry, GA, today, his latest pitch for Republicans to show up in the November midterms,” Fox News White House correspondent Jared Halpern said in a report aired on the broadcast.
Halpern also reported that Trump had cast his own ballot through early voting, though the correspondent’s report did not specify the location or date of that vote.
Georgia’s Senate race was referenced in Halpern’s report as part of the broader midterm landscape, though specific polling figures cited in the broadcast were not independently confirmed and are not included in this report.
Trump’s stops in Michigan and Mississippi follow his Georgia and Florida appearances. Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, is among the races Republicans and Democrats alike have identified as pivotal to control of the chamber, according to separate commentary aired during the same broadcast. Minnesota’s Senate race has also drawn new Republican attention after a state Medicaid fraud scandal, according to a separate NBC News clip aired on the program.
The trip comes as national early voting figures point to high midterm turnout. More than 23 million ballots had been cast nationwide by midday Friday, according to the University of Florida Election Lab, with early voting also opening Friday in Michigan, Florida, New Jersey and New York.
No additional campaign stops beyond the five states were announced as of Friday. Voters in the states on Trump’s itinerary face Election Day deadlines in November, with early voting already underway in several of them and absentee and in-person totals continuing to climb heading into the final days of the campaign.
The Georgia rally is Trump’s first stop on a trip that will also take him to Mississippi and Texas, two states Republicans are not defending competitively but where the president has scheduled appearances to boost down-ballot turnout, according to the broadcast report. Halpern’s report did not specify the dates of the remaining stops.
Republican strategists quoted in commentary on the broadcast framed the trip as a closing argument aimed at turning out the party’s base in the final days before polls close. The report did not include comment from the Trump campaign beyond Halpern’s on-the-ground account.
