Trump Rebooks Iowa, Kansas Rallies as Early Vote Beats 2022 Marks
The president reversed a last-minute cancellation to campaign in key Senate states where advance ballots are up 30%, while an Alaska probe into a naming scheme widens.
By Nikolai Patterson ·
President Donald Trump rescheduled campaign stops in Iowa and Kansas for Sunday after canceling them less than 24 hours earlier.
The reversal occurs as early voting outpaces the 2022 midterm cycle, with nearly 10 million more Americans casting ballots five days before Election Day than at the same point four years ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Trump stated he received calls from allies in the two states who preferred in-person events to tele-rallies. "They said, 'If you can go, you would be better than a tele-rally,'" he said. The states are critical for Republicans seeking to maintain their Senate majority.
Advance voting in Iowa and Kansas is up roughly 30 percent compared to the same period in 2022. In Texas, more than 6.3 million voters had cast early ballots as of Wednesday, a 50 percent increase over the 4.2 million recorded at the same time in the previous midterm.
Other competitive states show similar trends. Early voting rose more than 30 percent in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, and Kansas. In South Carolina, where voters are selecting a successor to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, early voting is up 83 percent.
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman in Alaska confirmed a criminal investigation into a candidate sharing the name of the Republican incumbent. The probe, which has been underway for months, intensified this week after The New York Times reported that the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola appeared involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan to run against Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Peltola denied knowledge of the effort to add a second candidate with her opponent's name to the ballot. The Justice Department aims to isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to measure the level of voter confusion in the state.
In Michigan, tensions resurfaced between Democratic rivals Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens during the final week before the general election. Stevens, who lost the August primary to El-Sayed, appeared on CNN to reaffirm support for El-Sayed while urging him to repair relations with Jewish and Black voters. Her fiancé stated he would vote for El-Sayed's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
Stevens later released a statement criticizing El-Sayed for not condemning an advertisement linking U.S. support for Israel to rising grocery prices. "Abdul promises to get money out of politics," Stevens wrote. "He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford."
El-Sayed responded that Stevens seems intent on relitigating the primary and called for a focus on defeating Rogers. He has apologized for some past comments while attempting to unify the party's base.
