President Donald Trump concluded his final push before the midterm elections Sunday night with rallies in Iowa and Kansas, as a bleak new poll showed Republican candidates trailing in all seven competitive Senate races.
Trump had hoped that holding 30 rallies and energizing his MAGA base would help prevent a Democratic wave that could erase Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.
But a late-breaking New York Times/Siena poll found Democrats ahead in each of the seven toss-up Senate contests, including the two states Trump visited Sunday.
The president spent more than two hours onstage in Dubuque, Iowa, campaigning for Republican Senate candidate and Representative Ashley Hinson.
As he has done at other events, Trump focused attention on the 43-year-old candidate’s appearance.
‘I knew Ashley for a long time, and she was a little bit heavier. OK? She was,’ Trump told the crowd. ‘And she went out – the old-fashioned way too, not with the, you know, give me a shot.’
A protester interrupted him as he spoke.
‘They always do it, right in the middle of my punchline!’ the president complained.
President Donald Trump arrives at his final campaign rally of the 2026 midterms Sunday night in Salina, Kansas
President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally in Salina, Kansas, with the Qatari-gifted Air Force One parked behind him and an Elvis-Trump mash-up displayed on the rally’s jumbotrons
Trump then returned to his comments about Hinson’s weight.
‘She was great the other way, but she put herself in shape,’ Trump said. ‘And she did that for you,’ he told the audience in a strong endorsement of Hinson.
At the Iowa rally, Trump also addressed the day’s biggest political development: Michigan Democratic Representative Haley Stevens’ endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
Stevens and El-Sayed had clashed over Israel, setting the stage for Sunday’s dramatic reversal. The endorsement led to Stevens being expelled from Michigan’s Democratic Party.
‘It was just an incredible thing. She just went out and she endorsed Mike Rogers. And Mike Rogers is doing well. He’s apple pie. Mike Rogers is apple pie,’ Trump said.
Trump added that he would like to see Stevens join the Republican Party.
Because Stevens had competed against El-Sayed in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, many Democrats viewed her endorsement of Rogers as an act of bitterness.
Trump mentioned El-Sayed repeatedly at both rallies, again claiming that the Senate would need a ‘metal detector’ if the Muslim Democrat won.
An attendee at President Donald Trump’s Dubuque, Iowa, rally was wearing a T-shirt that read, ‘I love ICE raids’
President Donald Trump gestures while discussing the ‘weave’ during his Dubuque, Iowa, rally, where his speech lasted more than two hours
President Donald Trump gestures toward supporters Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa, the site of his first of two final midterm campaign rallies
‘We’re not going to let the jihadists, the communists, whoever the h*** we got. I shouldn’t use the word. Should I use it or not?’ Trump asked the Dubuque crowd. ‘We’ve got more crap running for office,’ he then said, emphasizing the word ‘crap.’
‘We’re not going to stand for it,’ he added.
The president’s two-rally Sunday was announced Friday, after Trump had canceled both events less than 24 hours earlier.
The White House restored the rallies to Trump’s schedule after he angrily confronted a Reuters reporter who asked Thursday whether he was becoming ‘sick’ of the travel.
In Iowa, Trump demonstrated that the travel had not slowed him down, speaking for more than two hours and coming close to breaking his own record for a rally speech.
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‘This isn’t rambling. This isn’t rambling. This is genius,’ the president told the crowd after speaking for one hour and 17 minutes.
In Salina, Kansas, he spoke for one hour and 24 minutes after thrilling supporters with an Air Force One flyover.
‘I could have been home watching television or some crappy thing,’ he joked from the stage.
Kansas Senator Roger Marshall watches President Donald Trump speak at his final campaign rally in Salina, Kansas
President Donald Trump (right) brought Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) onstage during his final midterm campaign rally in Salina, Kansas
Trump said he had made the trip to campaign once more for Senator Roger Marshall, who is facing a difficult reelection contest against Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton.
‘We’re shutting it down tonight, can you believe it? I wanted to make you the last but the best,’ Trump told supporters.
‘I did not want to interrupt your football game, but maybe I should have,’ he added.
The Kansas City Chiefs had lost to the Chicago Bears earlier that afternoon.
‘That was a nasty ending, wasn’t it?’
During the hour that followed, Trump attacked several of his favored Democratic targets, including El-Sayed and Representative Ilhan Omar.
He also repeated his promise that Americans would receive $5,000 checks if Republicans prevailed in the midterms.
Trump invited Secretary of State Marco Rubio onto the stage as well.
‘He’s getting a little too popular; I’m not happy about this,’ Trump said. ‘I don’t like it. I don’t like it. He gets any more popular, I’m going to have to say, “you’re fired.”‘
At the conclusion of the rally, Trump danced energetically to YMCA, adding a motion resembling a golf swing.
President Donald Trump (left) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (right) embrace onstage at the president’s rally Sunday afternoon in Dubuque, Iowa, where Trump spoke for more than two hours
President Donald Trump waves from the top of the stairs as he boards Air Force One after delivering his final midterm campaign speech Sunday night in Salina, Kansas
Trump left the campaign trail with polls suggesting Democrats were on course to take control of the House of Representatives.
Democrats need to gain only three additional seats.
The final NYT/Siena poll placed Democrats in position to capture Senate seats in Kansas, Texas, Maine, Ohio and Michigan, although Stevens’ high-profile defection could influence the Michigan race.
Democratic candidates held narrower leads in Iowa and Alaska.
To control the Senate, Democrats need to gain four seats.
In Iowa, House Speaker Mike Johnson joined Trump onstage and urged the MAGA crowd not to pay attention to the polling.
‘And I can tell you: you can dismiss the polls,’ he said. ‘OK. The polls are wrong around the country.’
Johnson briefly imitated Trump and praised the president’s endurance after the demanding campaign schedule.
‘Sleep is for sissies,’ Johnson said.
