President Donald Trump will headline a rally in Cedar Rapids on Sunday, capping a brutal month of campaigning that he joked Friday has left his voice running at 49.2%.
Speaking at a Florida rally, Trump said he has campaigned for 28 straight days and was asked to make last-minute trips to help two vulnerable Republican Senate candidates, one in Iowa and one in Kansas.
“My voice is about operating at about 49.2%, and then they called me in Iowa, and they called me in Kansas, and they said, ‘Sir, would it be possible to do a little rally of about 50,000 people each?’” Trump said, according to The Daily Wire. “And I said, ‘Does it matter?’ They said, ‘We just want to make sure that we win.’”
What To Know About The Cedar Rapids Rally
The Iowa stop was originally planned for Dubuque but has been moved to Cedar Rapids, The Daily Wire reported. The Kansas rally is set for 2 p.m. CT Sunday at Salina Regional Airport in Salina.
“And so on Sunday, while you’re all watching football, I’ll be traveling in a very beautiful airplane to Iowa, to Kansas,” Trump told the Florida crowd Friday night.
The White House confirmed Friday that both rallies are back on, reversing an earlier plan to replace the in-person appearances with remote campaign events. A source told the New York Post that Trump will also continue a series of nearly 20 tele-rallies aimed at voters across the country.
“Rallies are BACK ON! President Trump loves his supporters, and in addition to nearly 20 tele-rallies, he will hold back-to-back rallies in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday,” the source said.
A Grueling October Schedule
The scheduling back-and-forth had prompted speculation about whether Trump was pulling back after an unusually heavy stretch of travel and speaking. The Associated Press counted 25 rallies across 19 states during October alone.
“Twenty-eight days in a row of this crap is a lot,” Trump said Friday.
The grind has been visible. As The Daily Beast reported, Trump once did not return to the White House until 4 a.m. after a day of barnstorming the country, and the constant speaking has strained his voice.
On Thursday, Trump fired back hard when a reporter suggested he had canceled the Kansas appearance because he was tired of traveling.
“You’re sick to ask that question. You are sick,” Trump told the reporter. “I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell.”
Why Iowa And Kansas Matter So Much To Republicans
The two Sunday rallies are aimed squarely at Senate seats Republicans cannot afford to lose. In Kansas, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is locked in a race that has tightened unexpectedly against Democrat Adam Hamilton, a liberal Methodist pastor who has held a polling lead in a state Republicans have not lost since 1932.
Trump said Friday that Marshall was “doing very well” and predicted Republicans would have “a strong Tuesday night.”
The Daily Wire recently surfaced a 2018 video of Hamilton urging his mostly white congregation to declare “black lives matter” and saying it is difficult to preach against racism in rural America, a recording that could resonate with Kansas voters outside the cities.
Some conservative strategists say Marshall’s campaign was caught flat. Ryan Girdusky, a conservative political consultant, said the Republican National Committee was warned months ago that Marshall was not taking the race seriously.
“They basically ignored all warnings,” Girdusky said. “Marshall told them don’t invest in Kansas, he was fine. He never hired a professional campaign team for the re-elect.”
Rural States Back In The Spotlight
The decision to spend the final Sunday before Election Day in Iowa and Kansas rather than in traditional swing territory reflects how much the political map has shifted. Analysts have noted that both states are heavily rural, and The New Republic observed that the terrain in Kansas and Iowa fits squarely into the kind of working-class and small-town counties that now decide Senate control.
For Iowa voters, the Cedar Rapids rally is the latest sign that the state remains central to the Republican coalition. Trump’s appearances here have consistently drawn massive crowds, and the last-minute move from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids puts the president in Iowa’s second-largest city just two days before the midterms.
Trump’s confrontational, populist style, which researchers have documented extensively, has proven especially effective with rural and working-class audiences in states like Iowa, where he won comfortably in both of his previous presidential campaigns.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported that Trump is delivering a rosy, off-script message about the economy in the final stretch, even as polls show many Americans remain unhappy with their own financial situation.
What Happens Next
Sunday’s back-to-back rallies close out a campaign stretch in which Trump has been the party’s single most requested surrogate. Republicans are betting that his personal appearances, on top of the tele-rally series, can push Senate candidates over the line in states the party once considered safe.
The results will be known Tuesday night, when Trump has predicted a strong showing for the GOP.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is Trump’s Iowa rally?
The rally is Sunday in Cedar Rapids, after being moved from its original Dubuque location. The Kansas rally follows the same day at 2 p.m. CT at Salina Regional Airport.
Why did Trump say his voice is at 49.2%?
Trump joked at a Friday Florida rally that 28 consecutive days of campaigning have worn down his voice, though he insisted he feels perfect and is not cutting back his schedule.
Who is Roger Marshall running against in Kansas?
Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, a liberal Methodist pastor who has led in polling despite Kansas not electing a Democrat statewide in a Senate race since 1932.