With only days left until the 2026 midterm elections, United States President Donald Trump has announced he will scale back his packed rally schedule, cancelling scheduled appearances in Iowa and Kansas.<\/p>\n
The Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed the cancellations in a statement on Thursday, unveiling a slate of \u201ctele-rallies\u201d to replace the nixed events.<\/p>\n
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RNC Chairman Joe Gruters argued that the virtual appearances will be more efficient, reaching more voters than Trump otherwise could with on-the-ground stops.<\/p>\n
\u201cVoters across the country want to hear from President Trump before Election Day, and this 72-hour sprint will be a huge boost in the closing days,\u201d Gruters said.<\/p>\n
The tele-rallies will be broadcast to nearly 20 states, including battlegrounds like Michigan, Alaska, Texas and Iowa, where competitive races are unfolding for the US Senate.<\/p>\n
The RNC statement added that further events may be announced in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s rally on Friday in Daytona Beach, Florida \u2013 some 320 kilometres (200 miles) up the coast from his Mar-a-Lago resort \u2013 will proceed as planned.<\/p>\n
Less than five days remain until the midterm elections on November 3, which will decide the composition of Congress, as well as key state and local offices.<\/p>\n
Whichever party\u00a0wins control of Congress will exercise power over Trump\u2019s legislative agenda during the final two years of his second term.<\/p>\n
Trump has also expressed concern that the Democratic Party might push to impeach him for a third time if it wins majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Republican Party holds narrow majorities in both chambers. In the Senate, the party holds 53 seats out of 100. In the House, it has 218 seats, with all 435 offices up for grabs this election cycle.<\/p>\n
The Senate, meanwhile, will see only about a third of its offices on the midterm ballot. Unlike in the House, where terms only last two years, senators are elected to six-year time spans, and their elections are staggered across different election years, to allow for greater stability.<\/p>\n
Political analysts have predicted Democrats have an advantage this midterm election cycle, citing Trump\u2019s slumping poll numbers and voter blowback over cost-of-living issues, foreign policy and other concerns.<\/p>\n
Harvard University\u2019s ElectIt election forecasting model, for instance, has estimated that Democrats have a 94 percent chance of taking control of the House.<\/p>\n
The race for the Senate, however, will be more difficult, with fewer seats available to win. Harvard rates Democrats as having a 74 percent chance to win a majority there.<\/p>\n
Trump has placed himself at the centre of the Republican strategy to defend the party\u2019s congressional majorities. To motivate his base of support, he has repeatedly encouraged voters with the phrase, \u201cPretend I\u2019m on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Midterm elections occur halfway through a president\u2019s term, and they are often considered a reflection of a president\u2019s popularity.<\/p>\n
At 80 years old, however, Trump will be the oldest president by the time his term concludes, and his health has been a concern.<\/p>\n
Since starting his second term, the Republican leader has been photographed with bruising on his hands, sparking speculation about any undisclosed medical conditions he may have.<\/p>\n
After concluding a rally in South Carolina on Thursday, reporters inquired about his health.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr President, you\u2019ve been doing a lot of travel. We\u2019ve been doing a lot of travel with you. How are you feeling? How\u2019s your health?\u201d a reporter from the news agency Reuters asked on the tarmac.<\/p>\n
Trump, at first, dodged the question, focusing instead on his optimism about the Republican Party\u2019s prospects in the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a strong Tuesday night,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
But the reporter continued with his line of questioning: \u201cSo you not going to Kansas has nothing to do with you being sick of travelling?\u201d That prompted an irate reply from Trump, who lashed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, you\u2019re sick to ask that question. You are sick,\u201d Trump said, as he proceeded to insult the reporter\u2019s weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his remarks to the reporter, Trump also questioned the need to visit Salina, Kansas, as he had planned to do on Saturday. \u201cI don\u2019t feel I have to go to Kansas,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n
Kansas, normally a Republican stronghold, has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.<\/p>\n
But this election cycle, Republican Senator Roger Marshall is facing a tight race with Democrat Adam Hamilton, the pastor of a megachurch.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the news outlet CNN released a poll showing Hamilton up by four percentage points, leading with 49 percent support to Marshall\u2019s 45 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With only days left until the 2026 midterm elections, United States President Donald Trump has announced he will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[54,4410,234,42,43,238,40,38,41,39,1032,1156,209722],"class_list":["post-661269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-us-midterm-elections-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}