Trump’s travel on Thursday to Texas and Oklahoma kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3. Vance will be stumping in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races.
A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
According to Trump, his party’s headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done.
“We’re not getting the word out,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I mean, we’re just not getting it.”
That’s why, he said, he will be traveling all over and trying to persuade GOP voters to pretend his name is on the ballot.
“I’m going out because nobody’s selling it,” Trump said.
In Oklahoma, Trump will campaign with Republican Mike Mazzei, who is running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson in the race for governor.
Before his evening Oklahoma stop, Trump will tour a truck manufacturing facility in Texas, where Republicans are spending heavily to try to bolster state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race. Paxton faces a very competitive challenge from Democratic state Rep.James Talarico.
Paxton was planning to be with Trump at the official White House event Thursday in Denton, two campaign officials familiar with Paxton’s plans said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the candidate’s schedule before it was made public.
Trump’s Oklahoma visit, and likewise one on Friday to Alabama, are aimed at hitting two targets with one stop, the person said.
Republican officials have noted that Durant is close to the Dallas and Fort Worth media market, meaning Trump’s message will also be carried to Texas voters, and he’s expected to talk about Paxton even while addressing voters in the neighboring state.
His Friday stop in Mobile, Alabama, is aimed not only at boosting Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for Alabama governor but also at shoring up support in Florida’s adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep.Byron Donalds. Donalds is running for Florida governor against David Jolly, the Republican-turned-independent who is now running as a Democrat.
Donalds' campaign in heavily GOP Florida comes as Republicans there have faced some turbulence and voter concerns about affordability and artificial intelligence data centers have become central issues.
While Trump is in Oklahoma and Texas, Vance will stump with Donalds in central Florida on Thursday.
Vance’s visit to Lakeland comes a day after the vice president campaigned in Texas. He rallied with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas.
Vance, speaking in Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday, acknowledged broader discontentment over the high prices in the U.S. but shifted the blame away from Trump and Republicans.
“I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress,” he said, but "we have spent every single day fighting for you, digging ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in.”
Trump will also campaign on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and on Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.
