Trump rallies in Kansas, Iowa are back on after being canceled

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will hold rallies for Senate midterm candidates in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 1, after previously canceling planned visits days before the midterm election.

A source familiar with the plans confirmed the rallies are back on, saying the dates were rearranged to accommodate dozens of tele-rallies that Trump is planning for Republican candidates in the final days of the midterm campaign.

Trump later addressed the schedule changes to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Oct. 30, saying he received calls from Republicans in both states asking him to come.

"We have a couple of races that are very important, and they said if you could go, it would be better than a tele-rally," Trump said. "And I tried to talk them out of that. I said, 'What about a tele-rally?' But they asked me. So I'm going to go on Sunday."

Trump on Thursday, Oct. 29 abruptly canceled weekend rallies in Kansas for Sen. Roger Marshall and Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson as polling shows tight Senate in two states that historically vote Republican. Trump blew up at a reporter who later asked whether he had canceled the Kansas trip because he's tired of traveling.

"You've been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell," Trump told the reporter from Reuters.

Trump's rally in Salina Kansas was originally scheduled to take place a day earlier on Saturday. Oct. 31, while the rally in Dubuque, Iowa will remain on Nov. 1.

When Trump initially scrapped the Kansas trip, the move ignited speculation whether Trump and Republicans had given up on the state.

Multiple polls suggest Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton has opened a lead in a state that last elected a Democratic senator in 1932. A Washington Post poll released Friday found Hamilton ahead of Marshall 52%-43% among likely voters, while a CNN poll found a narrower 4-point lead for Hamilton, within the survey's margin of error. Trump carried Kansas by 16 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.

In Iowa, Hinson narrowly leads Democratic nominee Josh Turek by less than 1 percentage point, according to a Real Clear Politics average of recent polls. Trump carried Iowa in 2024 by 13 percentage points.

Trump has held more than two dozen rallies in the homestretch of the midterm campaign as he looks to energize the MAGA base. Yet the president's popularity is underwater in many of the states he's visiting, including Kansas and Iowa, according to polls, making his appearance a risk for midterm candidates.

With the president often speaking for nearly two hours at the nightly rallies, Trump's voice has turned hoarse in recent days as he maintains his breakneck schedule of appearances. Trump is holding a rally in Dayton Beach, Florida on Friday, Oct. 30.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.