Donald Trump has ended his final midterm campaign rallies in Iowa and Kansas as a poll showed Democratic candidates ahead in all seven closely contested Senate races.
The president had hoped a schedule of 30 rallies would strengthen Republican turnout and prevent Democrats from taking control of both chambers of Congress. The latest New York Times/Siena poll put Democrats in front in races including those in the two states Trump visited on Sunday.
Trump spent more than two hours campaigning in Dubuque, Iowa, for Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, before travelling to Salina, Kansas, to support Senator Roger Marshall.
At the Iowa rally, he praised Ms Hinson while commenting on her weight and fitness. “I knew Ashley for a long time, and she was a little bit heavier. OK? She was,” he told supporters.
He added that she had improved her fitness “the old-fashioned way”, after which a protester interrupted him. “They always do it, right in the middle of my punchline!” Trump said.
Returning to the subject, he said: “She was great the other way, but she put herself in shape. And she did that for you.”
Trump final midterm rallies dominated by Senate contests
Trump also seized on the decision by Michigan Democratic Representative Haley Stevens to endorse Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over her former primary rival, Abdul El-Sayed.
Mr El-Sayed and Ms Stevens had disagreed over Israel, and her endorsement led to her expulsion from Michigan’s Democratic Party. Trump described the move as “an incredible thing” and said he would like to see her join the Republican Party.
He repeatedly attacked Mr El-Sayed during the two rallies, saying the Senate would need a “metal detector” if the Muslim Democrat won. Trump also criticised what he described as the range of Democratic candidates standing for office.
“We’re not going to let the jihadists, the communists, whoever the h*** we got,” he told the Iowa crowd. “We’ve got more crap running for office.”
The Sunday events were restored to Trump’s schedule after both had been cancelled less than 24 hours earlier. The White House put them back on the itinerary after the president reacted angrily to a Reuters reporter who asked whether he was becoming tired of travelling.
Trump spoke for more than two hours in Dubuque, telling the crowd after an hour and 17 minutes: “This isn’t rambling. This isn’t rambling. This is genius.” His speech in Salina lasted about an hour and 24 minutes and began after an Air Force One flyover.
In Kansas, Trump urged voters to return Roger Marshall to the Senate in his contest against Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton. He told supporters: “We’re shutting it down tonight, can you believe it? I wanted to make you the last but the best.”
He also repeated a promise of $5,000 payments to Americans if Republicans win the midterms, and brought Secretary of State Marco Rubio on stage.
“He’s getting a little too popular; I’m not happy about this,” Trump joked. “He gets any more popular, I’m going to have to say, ‘you’re fired.’”
At the end of the rally, Trump danced to YMCA, including making a golf-swing gesture, before boarding Air Force One.
The poll showed Democrats in a position to win Senate seats in Kansas, Texas, Maine, Ohio and Michigan, with narrower leads in Iowa and Alaska. Republicans currently face the prospect of losing the House, where Democrats need three additional seats, while Democrats need four gains to take control of the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Iowa crowd to disregard the figures. “You can dismiss the polls,” he said. “The polls are wrong around the country.”
