Trump on the campaign trail
Republicans are fleeing their own president
October 3, 2026 – 6:37 p.mReading time: 5 minutes
Around a month before the midterm elections, some Republicans are distancing themselves from their US President. But contrary to the mood, Donald Trump is starting his own campaign tour.
David Schafbuch reports from New York
Visited on Thursday Donald Trump Texas. In a truck factory in the town of Denton, the US President spoke, as he often does, about what his government has achieved so far: the stock market prices are up, the poverty rate is at a historic low and the Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
Trump called his administration’s achievements “phenomenal work.” The only problem is that he simply doesn’t manage to properly sell his successes to the public.
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Trump starts campaign tour before the 2026 midterms
The visit of Trump was the start of a major presidential campaign tour: A month before the US midterm elections, in which large parts of the US Congress will be re-elected, Trump wants to attract votes from his Republicans. So far, his party holds the majority in both chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Contrary to Trump’s self-enumerated successes, the dissatisfaction with the president and his party is clearly noticeable. All polls before the so-called Midterms indicate that the Republicans must expect losses. The only question now seems to be how clear the defeat will be.
Many Republicans have courted Trump’s support for years. But in the hot phase of the election campaign, things seem to be reversing: politicians from Trump’s party are distancing themselves from their president because they now see him as a burden. However, it doesn’t seem to have fully sunk in with the president yet. With his campaign tour, Trump is making it clear that he still sees himself as the biggest driving force of his party.
Before the US midterm elections, Trump visits the red heartland
After his appearance in Texas, the president flew on to Oklahoma on Thursday. On Friday he stopped in Alabama. An appearance is scheduled in Ohio on Saturday, in Nebraska on Monday and in Maryland on Tuesday. According to information from the news portal “Politico”, Trump is planning further speeches in the coming weeks in the states of Iowa, Florida and Alaska.
Apart from Maryland, all places have one thing in common: in the 2024 presidential election, Trump had the states well ahead of the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris won. Some of them have been considered Republican heartlands for decades. In Alabama, Trump won by more than 30 percentage points.
Recent polls before the US midterms show, however, that many “red states” in which the Republicans are traditionally strong are at risk this time in the midterm elections: In the election for the Senate in Texas, a Democrat, James Talarico, could win for the first time in more than 30 years. The situation is similar in Alaska, where Democratic candidate Mary Peltola is said to have a chance of taking over the post from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
