Trump Restores Canceled Kansas and Iowa Rallies for Sunday After a Day of Reversals

President Donald Trump has restored canceled campaign rallies in Iowa and Kansas for Sunday, a White House official said Friday, reversing course one day after the events were scrapped in favor of telephone rallies.

“Rallies are BACK ON! President Trump loves his supporters, and in addition to nearly 20 tele-rallies, he will hold back-to-back rallies in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, according to Reuters.

A reversal within 24 hours

On Thursday, Trump told reporters he did not feel he had to go to Kansas, where Republican Sen. Roger Marshall faces an unexpectedly competitive race against Democrat Adam Hamilton. “He is doing very well. We are going to have a strong Tuesday night,” Trump said at the time, according to Reuters.

The Republican National Committee said Thursday that the previously planned in-person events would switch to tele-rallies, part of what it called a 72-hour sprint of phone rallies meant to reach voters in more states. By Friday, Trump said in the Oval Office that Republican leaders had asked him to reconsider. “They said if you could go, it would be better than a tele-rally, and I tried to talk them out of it,” Trump said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “But they asked me, so I am going to do two on Sunday.”

The Republican National Committee later confirmed Trump would campaign in Salina, Kansas, and Dubuque, Iowa. The Iowa stop moved from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids on Friday before shifting back to Dubuque hours later, according to a person familiar with the planning who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reported.

Two Senate races on the line

Both states hold battleground Senate races that will help decide whether Republicans keep their narrow majority in the chamber. Trump has already traveled to both states this month to support Marshall in Kansas and Republican Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, who now serves in the House.

The reversal comes as early voting runs ahead of the last midterm cycle. Nearly 10 million more Americans had cast ballots five days before Election Day than at the same point in 2022, according to an Associated Press analysis of voting data, with early voting up roughly 30% in Iowa and Kansas. Democrats lead in final national midterm polling, as covered in our report on the final midterm polls. On Friday night, Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Daytona Beach, Florida, after headlining 25 rallies so far in October, the Associated Press reported.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters, the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal.