The Latest: Trump rallies in Mississippi as GOP midterm challenges mount

Oct. 26, 2026, 9:01 PM ET

President Donald Trump was in Mississippi on Monday as he continued a closing midterm campaign blitz that highlights the challenges Republicans face ahead of an election that could drastically shift power across the country.

Trump intensified his anti-Muslim rhetoric against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday, portraying him as a threat to national security and questioning his loyalty to the United States in remarks that drew a sharp rebuke from a former top Arab American ally, Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump.

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Trump administration’slawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses the race and argued that the legal challenge was a necessary step to avoid confusing voters in the closely watched midterm race.

Here's the latest:

Sen. Ted Cruz rallies South Carolina Republicans ahead of midterms

Headlining a fundraiser hosted by U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, the Texas Republican cracked jokes about Democratic candidates like James Talarico and predicted a win for Republicans like Sen. Darline Graham.

Like Fry and other speakers, Cruz called for Republicans to unify around Graham, commending Fry — who lost the special GOP nomination to Graham — for “standing up and fighting” for his former opponent.

Cruz is among the Republicans thought to be mulling a presidential bid in 2028, so spending time in South Carolina — home to the GOP’s first southern presidential primary — serves dual purposes. He’s been stumping with South Carolina gubernatorial nominee Alan Wilson, with whom he’s friends, and did so earlier this year during the Republican primary for governor.

Judge extends block on Trump’s renovation of DC public golf course

A federal judge has agreed to extend an order blocking the Trump administration’s renovation plans for a century-old public golf course in the nation’s capital.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction that halts tree-cutting and other work at the East Potomac Golf Course. On Oct. 18, Trump announced plans on social media to close the golf course for 15 months and redevelop it despite a court challenge.

Reyes previously ordered the administration to suspend work on the project until at least Oct. 26.

Democratic candidate for House in Iowa tells supporters that Washington is broken

More than 100 supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, chanted and cheered on Monday for Democratic House candidate Sarah Trone Garriott.

Trone Garriott, who faces incumbent Republican Zach Nunn in his tough reelection bid, criticized Trump and Nunn for “chaotic” tariffs, closed healthcare clinics and the war in Iran.

“I am going to stand up to the president and bring this war to an end,” she said.

Trone Garriott, a minister and state senator, also asked supporters to share their “good word” with neighbors to counteract Trump’s negative messages against her, including from the Oval Office in a pro-Nunn video.

“Tell them who I am. Tell them how you know me,” she said. “Your word is more powerful than any attack ad could ever be.”

After speaking, she played the violin in a trio that capped off the night with a couple of songs for the crowd.

Trump wraps by rushing through his typical speech ending

The president spoke for just shy of 90 minutes, but offered a different conclusion than usual.

“Let’s make the next two years bigger, better, stronger than ever before,” Trump told the crowd. “Because we will make America powerful again, wealthy again, healthy again, strong again, proud again, safe again. And most importantly, we will make America great again.”

While hitting the same themes, that was a truncated version of Trump’s usual ending.

At nearly every rally he usually proclaims “We will make America strong again, we will make America proud again” and lists off each individual promise to improve different attributes of the country before finishing with “We will make America great again.”

Senator makes brief comments at Trump’s rally — very brief

After more than an hour on stage, Trump invited the candidate he came to Mississippi to champion, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, to the stage.

“Is this not the best president in our lifetime?” she asked before leaving.

Trump, who relishes giving long speeches, often invites candidates and others to the stage during his rallies. He is fond of asking them to keep things brief, but was delighted with Hyde-Smith’s nine total words.

“That was a record,” he said after she spoke. “That was great.”

Trump pledges he won’t mess with the mighty Mississippi River

Musing aloud about needing a river and an ocean to go along with the gulf and lake he renamed, Trump said there is one river that’s off-limits.

He said it had been suggested that he rename the Mississippi River, but he said he won’t do it.

“I promise I will never change the name of the Mississippi,” Trump said while in the state.

As for an ocean, Trump said he’s thinking about calling the Atlantic Ocean the “American Ocean” and thinks “Europe will be thrilled.”

Trump bristles at Obama’s suggestion he’s spending too much time on construction projects

Trump responded to former President Barack Obama mocking his focus on building a White House ballroom and other construction projects.

“We have to have a beautiful, beautiful well-kept White House,” he said, adding that it was “the symbol of our country.”

The president insisted that, in making White House improvements, “I didn’t take any time.”

“I literally do it when I walk home from the Oval,” Trump said of the short trip from the Oval Office to his living quarters.

He said he’d “look up and say, ‘Boy, that wall is really bad. Let’s go.’”

Those comments followed Trump telling reporters earlier Monday that Obama “doesn’t notice dirt and filth” of the White House before he rehabilitated it.

Trump said then that he was “a very clean person” but, “You have to explain that to Obama” because the former president doesn’t understand and is “not smart at all.”

More than 30 million early votes have been cast

More than 30 million people have cast an early vote in the midterm elections as of Monday, according to data collected by The Associated Press from election administrators across the country.

Nearly 4 million additional early votes have been reported since Friday.

Trump now says he ‘never liked’ the short-lived ceasefire with Iran

The president told the rally crowd of the ongoing war in Iran, “We did a little ceasefire, which I never liked very much.”

He added that he considered the deal “sort of a waste of time. But, you know, you like to listen to professionals.”

Trump didn’t elaborate, but that was a reference to the ceasefire he said his administration had reached with Iran in June. The deal quickly collapsed while failing to achieve any of its goals, including negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

What he says now is in stark contrast to when he announced the deal, calling it a “big day for world peace” that could “mark the start of a new “golden age of the Middle East.”

Sen. Tim Scott predicts Republicans will hold majority ‘without much of a question’

On the sidelines of U.S. Rep. Russell Fry’s 3rd Annual Freedom Fry event, Scott told The Associated Press that GOP candidates are “closing very strongly” in races across the country, including South Carolina.

Scott, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called the Senate map “very competitive” for his party. He also said that Trump’s second visit to South Carolina in as many weeks to stump for GOP Sen. Darline Graham was evidence of the president’s “lots of energy,” not cracks in Republicans’ hold on the seat.

“One of the reasons why we will be in the majority is because he has invested the time and the energy on the campaign trail,” Scott said, noting he spoke with Trump on Sunday and has stumped with him in several states lately.

El-Sayed and Bernie Sanders advocate for universal healthcare in Michigan town hall

Sanders said he sees enough public support for universal healthcare that progressives needed to “make an offer that the Democratic leadership cannot refuse.”

“There’s no great secret there are divisions within the Democratic Party. Abdul and I are on one side — the more progressive side — but it is where I believe the American people are,” Sanders said. “What we need is for millions of people to stand up, demand Medicare for all.”

Sanders and El-Sayed both said taxes on billionaires would fund the health plan.

El-Sayed referenced the national implications of his race against Republican Mike Rogers, which will help determine control of the Senate.

“If you don’t want the Supreme Court to have five Trump nominees on it, if you want to make sure that your politicians work for you, this one is for all the marbles,” El-Sayed said.

Trump says he’s rallying in deeply Republican Mississippi because ‘I can’t take a chance’

“I’m here because Cindy’s doing great,” the president said of Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is running for reelection against Democrat Scott Colom.

“But I just got to make sure I can’t take a chance. I can’t take it,” he added.

Trump is in the midst of a whirlwind travel schedule taking him to 30-plus campaign stops ahead of Election Day. But he has largely stuck to reliably red states, or to conservative areas in swing states, which better ensures especially adoring rally crowds.

Stumping in Kansas, Vance blames high gas prices on Democratic policies

The vice president sought to offset the political damage done by high fuel prices, which threaten to cost the GOP its congressional majorities.

Vance spoke at a rally in Topeka to help rescue Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is in a tough race with Democrat Adam Hamilton. Hamilton has made high fuel prices a key issue.

Vance said Democrats’ weakness in foreign policy left the U.S. at the mercy of “tinpot dictators in the Middle East” before Trump began his second term. He also blamed Democratic green energy “scam” policies for the closing of refineries in California.

“It takes a certain amount of audacity to say they’ve done anything about gas prices,” Vance said.

Appeals court declines to rule on federal bid to set aside California ballots of alleged noncitizens

The court declined to rule on whether California elections officials can count roughly 20,000 ballots that the Justice Department alleges belongs to noncitizens voters.

The decision sets the federal government and state officials up for another legal showdown on the matter on Tuesday in front of a federal district judge, giving the federal government a very short window to compel California to sequester votes before the Nov. 3 elections.

The Republican administration sued election officials in the heavily Democratic state in mid-October, accusing them of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people it alleged were likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.

Trump takes the stage in Mississippi

The president has begun addressing his rally in Corinth, Mississippi.

“We’ve been doing the rounds. We’ve been doing the rounds,” Trump said of his crisscrossing the country on behalf of Republicans.

Trump acknowledged that the president’s party often doesn’t do well in midterm elections, but added, “Nobody’s ever campaigned like I have for midterms.”

He was championing Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith while her Democratic challenger, Scott Colom, was spotted at his rally site, too.

Kamala Harris tells Wisconsin Democrats to turn ‘anger into action’

The former vice president stopped at a Democratic Party office in Milwaukee and attended a rally at a downtown hotel with gubernatorial candidate David Crowley. He is locked in a tight race with Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by Trump.

“This is a tight race because the stakes are so high,” Harris said at the event billed as a “women for Crowley” rally.

She praised Crowley, saying “unlike others who are constantly looking in the mirror, David is looking at the people.”

Harris urged Crowley supporters to tap the anger, sadness and depression they’ve been feeling into action to elect Crowley.

Tiffany said in a statement that Harris was bringing her “California playbook to Wisconsin.”

“Wisconsin rejected Kamala Harris once, and now it’s time to reject David Crowley,” Tiffany said.

Trump defeated Harris in swing state Wisconsin by less than a percentage point in 2024.

House Democrats say they’ve recruited 275 congressional election observers

Democrats in the U.S. House have recruited a record number of observers to fan out across the country and monitor the polls in November’s midterms, New York Rep. Joe Morelle, ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, told reporters Monday.

Morelle said the 275 congressional staffers will carry on a longtime tradition in the chamber of volunteers observing the election process to “protect free and fair elections.”

Republicans also participate in the congressional observer program.

Spokespeople for Rep. Bryan Steil, the Wisconsin Republican and chair of the committee, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about how many volunteers they’d gathered.

The news comes as Democrats, Republicans, watchdog groups and the DOJ are also preparing to send thousands of monitors to the polls on Election Day.

Bernie Sanders blasts ‘racist, Islamophobic’ ads targeting El-Sayed

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, said recent anti-Muslim ads about the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan were the result of “unbelievable and disgusting racism that we’re seeing from Trump and the Republican Party.”

“Billionaires are flooding the airwaves with racist, Islamophobic ads because they have nothing to say about the important issues facing working people,” Sanders said during a rally with El-Sayed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, billed as a Students Versus Billionaires town hall.

El-Sayed’s race against Republican Mike Rogers will help determine control of the Senate. Arab American groups have condemned anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, including Trump’s calling El-Sayed a “jihadist.”

El-Sayed disavows ad critical of US support for Israel

The Michigan Senate candidate is distancing himself from an ad that blames high grocery prices on U.S. support for Israel.

“This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign. Abdul is focused on pushing back against Trump’s agenda that is raising prices for Michiganders. No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign,” a spokesperson for El-Sayed, Roxie Richner, said in a statement.

The ad shows a couple discussing U.S. support for Israel as they shop for groceries. “Apparently it’s costing us a lot of money to drop bombs on Gaza,” the woman says.

It was created by a political action committee called Rebellion PAC and shared on social media by Cenk Uygur, host of the popular progressive show The Young Turks. It was condemned by Rep. Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary.

“This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong,” Stevens wrote on X.

Late in his tight race, Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall is making ‘radical Islam’ a key issue

Marshall called “radical Islam” the biggest threat facing the U.S. while speaking during a rally in Topeka that was headlined by Vice President JD Vance.

At least 1,000 people gathered for the rally, which is part of the GOP’s efforts to rescue Marshall. The senator’s race against Democrat Adam Hamilton is considered a tossup even though Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932.

Marshall said unrest in France shows what happens under “weak moderate” leadership and predicted that if Democrats control the Senate, they will let radical Muslims into the U.S.

“Radical Islam is trying to erase Western civilization from the history books,” Marshall said. “I refuse to let America burn because we refused to face down radical Islam.”

Trump administration attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey again

The Trump administration is attempting to prosecute Comey for what it calls disclosing classified information, employing the unusual maneuver of bypassing a grand jury — a move Comey’s lawyers say makes the case legally invalid.

The allegations from the Justice Department came in documents unsealed Monday in federal court in Washington.

It would be the third criminal case that the Justice Department has brought against the longtime critic and foe of Trump since the Republican president’s return to the White House last year.

Alaska Senate candidate cites ‘brain fog’ in marking himself as an independent

Dan J. Sullivan says he mistakenly marked himself as an independent when he voted in the August primary.

The retired teacher earlier this year filed to run as a Republican against the GOP incumbent, also named Dan Sullivan.

He cited “brain fog” from months of the campaign in listing himself as independent on his absentee ballot envelope. He said he’s “pretty sure” he marked himself as a Republican when he voted early for next week’s general election.

The ballot lists him as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. The senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block certification of the race if the incumbent loses, citing potential confusion with the other Sullivan.

The race is headlined by the incumbent and Democrat Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative.

Rep. Russell Fry says South Carolina GOP unity ‘getting better’ as Election Day approaches

He lost the Republican special Senate primary to Darline Graham, but the U.S. House member says it’s time for his party to rally around her as their general election nominee.

Fry told reporters ahead of his 3rd Annual Freedom Fry on Monday in Myrtle Beach that South Carolina has “never had a more strange, radical leftist nominee” for the Senate than Democrat Annie Andrews, expressing confidence that Graham would win despite the race appearing to tighten.

Some conservatives have criticized the selection of Graham as their nominee, mounting a write-in campaign for Rep. Ralph Norman, who lost the special Senate primary runoff.

Trump urged Graham to run in the special GOP primary after the death of her brother Lindsey Graham earlier this year, and later this week will make his third trip to stump for her in the state since August.

Vice President JD Vance is headlining a Kansas rally to help an incumbent GOP senator

Hundreds of people gathered for the rally inside the warehouse of a steel-fabricating company in Topeka.

It was the vice president’s second visit to Kansas to help boost GOP candidates, particularly U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who’s in a tossup race with Democrat Adam Hamilton.

A small group of labor union members stood along a street leading toward the entrance of the steel fabricating plant holding signs that promoted Hamilton’s support for unions.

A few of the attendees had “Stop Schumer” signs, a reference to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who stands to become majority leader if Democrats take control of the chamber.

The hotly contested race in Kansas, where Democrats haven’t won a Senate race since 1932, has buoyed the party’s hopes.