By Bo Erickson
DENTON, Texas, Oct 1 (Reuters) – 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.
Trump 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, at a time that some Republican candidates are unsure whether that will help or hurt them.
He’s beginning that trip in safe Republican territory, looking to build momentum before plunging into more competitive races.
But the trips in such solid conservative places 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.
Some candidates have become increasingly willing to break with him on issues that are riling voters, including the war with Iran and the spread of electricity-guzzling data centers.
After landing in Texas, Trump said his visits to Oklahoma later on Thursday and Alabama on Friday were gestures of “respect” to states that supported his three White House bids.
In Oklahoma, Trump said he planned to give an address about “how well we’re doing.”
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.
HEAVY SPENDING
Texas is among eight US Senate races rated competitive. Republican candidate Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, is expected to appear with Trump at a stop north of Dallas, Paxton’s campaign said.
Political observers will be watching for any awkward interactions between the two men following the leaking of a recording of Paxton telling a group of donors that Trump’s midterm convention in September hurt him and other Republican candidates.
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
The president is expected to tout his tariff and trade agenda in Denton, Texas, during a visit to Peterbilt Motors, where the White House says Trump-era truck tariffs helped spur job growth.
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.
But 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 hit a record high of $5.97 per gallon two weeks ago and average gas costs are up almost 44% at $3.92 per gallon compared to this time last year, according to travel analyst AAA.
MORE COMPETITIVE STATES ON WEEKEND
After his Texas stop, the president will rally in Durant in southern Oklahoma, a state he won with more than 66% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election.
The Republican National Committee, which is organizing the rally, said the location near the Texas border was chosen in part to attract supporters from neighboring Texas, where Paxton and Talarico are fighting for the seat.
On Friday, Trump will continue his campaign rallies in Alabama, a similarly reliable conservative state in the South that also does not feature marquee competitive races.
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’s shown signs in recent days of tightening.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Additional reporting by Jacob Bogage; Editing by Ross Colvin, Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Spicer)
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