By Bo Erickson
DURANT, Oklahoma, Oct 1 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump began a 32-day campaign blitz on Thursday with stops in Texas and Oklahoma, aiming to bolster Republican candidates as his party fights to hold onto its slim congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.
Some Republican candidates are unsure whether Trump’s presence helps or hurts them, but he wants to be the face of the party’s midterm effort and plans to campaign in a number of competitive House of Representatives and Senate races.
“Pretend I’m running please,” he said on Thursday at a rally in Durant, Oklahoma.
Trump’s rallies took place in safe Republican territory, starting in Denton, Texas before going to Oklahoma, as he looked to build momentum before plunging into more competitive races. But visits to solid conservative areas have sparked worries from some party officials over the quantity of seats Republicans risk losing and the specter that some candidates may not want to appear alongside their party’s unpopular standard bearer.
On landing in Texas, Trump said his campaign trips this week, which will include a stop in Alabama on Friday, are gestures of “respect” to states that supported his three White House bids.
During his winding 55-minute speech at a Peterbilt truck factory in Denton, Trump said he was throwing himself into Republicans’ midterm efforts. “My heart is in it like never before,” he said.
Weather concerns kept the presidential aircraft grounded after Trump arrived in Texas, so he traveled to Oklahoma by motorcade at high speed. The press vehicle reached 98 mph (158 kph) at one point.
Later, in Durant, Trump expressed concerns about how Republican candidates were doing in some key states. “We’re worried about Michigan, we’re worried about Texas, we’re worried about a few states,” he told the Oklahoma crowd, instructing them to encourage their friends in other states to vote.
Trump told supporters at a White House event on Wednesday that he had done a bad job so far in selling his economic record since returning to the White House in January 2025. Voter discontent over his handling of the economy has fueled a shift in the electoral map, with some safe Republican seats now viewed as competitive in November by political analysts.
“We have the greatest numbers of any president in the history of our country, and I can’t get the word out,” he lamented on Thursday at the Texas event.
HEAVY SPENDING
Texas is among eight US Senate races rated competitive. Republican candidate Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, appeared with Trump on Thursday, the day after a report about a recording in which Paxton told campaign donors that Trump’s midterm convention in September hurt him and other Republican candidates.
In Denton, Trump called Paxton one of the “most loyal people.”
“I have to always remember that because he can be a pain in the ass sometimes,” he said without elaborating.
The Paxton campaign dismissed the recording as “manipulated nonsense.” Trump on Wednesday told reporters he had not heard about the recording. “I can tell you that the convention was amazing,” he said in the Oval Office.
Trump backed the scandal-plagued Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary, forcing the party to spend heavily to defend a traditionally safe Republican seat from Democratic challenger James Talarico.
DIESEL PRICES
Trump has drawn fire around the world for his use of tariffs. He used his trip on Thursday, including a stop at the Peterbilt factory, to defend his trade policy.
Some companies have challenged Trump’s tariffs in court, but the administration said Trump’s truck tariffs had enabled companies like PACCAR, owner of Peterbilt, to add more than 2,000 jobs nationwide, including some 1,000 at the Texas plant.
The costs to power these diesel and gas trucks recently reached record levels in Texas, stemming from the economic fallout of the Iran war. Diesel in the state hit a record high of $5.97 per gallon two weeks ago and the average gasoline price of $3.92 per gallon is almost 44% higher year-over-year, according to travel analyst AAA.
MORE COMPETITIVE STATES ON WEEKEND
On Friday, Trump will continue his campaign rallies in Alabama, another reliable conservative state.
The president is set to hit more competitive territory on Saturday in Ohio, a state he won with 55% of the vote in the 2024 election but where Senator Jon Husted now faces a close re-election race. Trump will also rally on Monday in Nebraska, where Republicans are facing a challenging House race in Omaha and a Senate race that has shown signs in recent days of tightening.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Additional reporting by Jacob Bogage and Steve Holland; Editing by Ross Colvin, Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell, Jonathan Spicer, Michael Perry and Sergio Non)
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