WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail on Sunday with rallies in Iowa and Kansas, two Republican-leaning Farm Belt states where his party is fighting to retain US Senate seats ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Trump, who spent Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after weeks of campaigning, won Iowa by double digits in 2024. But recent polls show Democrats tied with or leading Republicans in several statewide races, while his approval among rural Americans fell to 45 percent in October, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
Kansas, which has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932, is also facing an unexpectedly close contest. Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress, with 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats on the ballot.
Democrats and many Republicans have framed the election as a referendum on Trump’s policies. “His agenda, without any question, is on the ballot,” Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who leads the Republican Senate campaign committee, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
If Democrats win control of either chamber, they could block much of Trump’s legislative agenda during the final two years of his term and launch investigations into his administration. More than 52 million Americans have already voted in person or by mail, a record for a midterm election, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
Senate control may hinge on a handful of states, including Alaska, where Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan is in a tight race against Democrat Mary Peltola. The race has been complicated by the presence of another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., whose similar name Republicans say could confuse voters.
Sullivan said he would accept Tuesday’s result, even as the Trump administration presses a criminal investigation into the challenger’s candidacy and seeks to prevent certification of the vote if the incumbent loses narrowly. Peltola and her campaign have denied involvement in recruiting the other Sullivan, who has also denied coordinating with her campaign.
Separately, the Trump administration is expected to ask the US Supreme Court to hear its dispute with California over alleged noncitizen voting, after federal courts rejected efforts to block the state from counting mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters.
In Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers in another closely watched race. Party unity remains uncertain after El-Sayed’s primary rival, Representative Haley Stevens, was asked to skip his campaign events through Election Day. Polls indicate El-Sayed has largely consolidated Democratic support.