Donald Trump is closing out the 2026 midterms in Republican strongholds rather than swing districts. It is a strategic choice that reveals how anxious the GOP has become about races it once was deemed to have taken for granted. The president’s schedule and his own remarks tell the story.
Why the GOP is campaigning across traditionally Republican states
Trump rallied in Mississippi on Monday, urging voters to back Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in a race that election analysts now describe as competitive. Democrats last got a Mississippi Senate seat in 1982, and Trump won the state by nearly 23 points in 2024. That history makes the president’s visit telling: internal polling and public polls apparently show enough slippage to justify a defensive posture.
Republican strategists told Reuters they worry about contests stretching from Alaska to South Carolina. Voter frustration over inflation, driven by Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war, is the chief culprit. Pollsters expect affordability concerns to drag on midterm turnout and Republican margins. Trump’s itinerary confirms the pattern. He plans stops in Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida and Iowa before November 3, all states Trump carried comfortably in 2024. Protecting friendly territory has become the priority.
Moreover, control of Congress hangs on the outcome. Every House seat and 35 Senate seats are up, and polls indicate Democrats could flip the House and threaten the Senate. A Democratic Congress would stall Trump’s agenda and possibly open investigations into his administration.
So far, Democrats have poured resources into Mississippi. Senate Majority PAC launched a $1.2 million ad buy for Democrat Scott Colom, and surrogates including Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg have campaigned with him. Trump, hoarse from repeated rallies, admitted the grind. “God didn’t make your vocal cords to do a rally every day,” he said. He endorsed Hyde-Smith but conceded his limits: “I can’t help Cindy Hyde-Smith any better than that.”
