Trump Cancels Kansas and Iowa Rallies for Phone Events as GOP Defends Tight Midterm Races

President Donald Trump stood in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Thursday, his second visit to the state in a month, and told supporters about the man whose seat his party is now fighting to hold. "He was a great politician," he said of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, before turning to Graham's sister, Darline Graham. "She's got the gene." Hours later, the Republican National Committee announced that Trump was scrapping his weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa.

In their place, the RNC said, Trump will do what it called a "72-hour sprint" of rallies by phone. The committee said telerallies are planned for nearly 20 states, with more possibly to come, and argued the format lets him reach more voters nationwide in the closing days of a midterm that could cost Republicans control of Congress. The Kansas rally had been set for Saturday and the Iowa event for Sunday. Telerallies are also far shorter: Trump is expected to speak for about 10 minutes, against more than 90 at an in-person event.

The change cuts against his pledge to push through the final stretch with one rally after another. As of Thursday he had held 25 rallies in October, short of a goal he had once set above 30. On Monday in Corinth, Mississippi, his voice raspy, he told the crowd, "God didn't make your vocal cords to do a rally every day." When a reporter asked Thursday whether health was behind the Kansas cancellation, he snapped, "You've been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect." He said he did not need to go to Kansas because Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, is "doing very well." A campaign strategist with Republican Senate leadership, speaking anonymously to relay private conversations, said there was widespread curiosity about the switch. Trump still plans a Friday rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. The White House has not released his schedule for Monday, the final day of campaigning, and it is unclear whether other in-person events will follow.

Democrats seized on the move. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, who is in a tight race with Republican Mike Rogers, said Thursday night that Trump's effort to stir up GOP voters had backfired and that he has "given up." He added that Trump "now understands that he has fully lost the midterms for his party."

The Trump visit to South Carolina reflects Republican worry about a state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly three decades. Darline Graham was appointed in July by Gov. Henry McMaster to finish her brother's term after his sudden death, and became the party's nominee in August for a full six-year term. She has struggled to build connections with voters. Her Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who previously lost a bid for Congress, urges voters wanting change to "try something new for once," and told a Fort Mill crowd Wednesday that if they are unhappy with her, "you can fire me in six years." Graham praised Trump for having "delivered what Washington promised for decades" and warned that Andrews "would just throw it all away."

There is intraparty friction, too. Rep. Ralph Norman, who lost the GOP runoff to Graham, has called her unqualified and refused to campaign with her, saying the race is closer than it would have been with him as nominee. Lonnie Dean Johnson of Sumter, who backed Norman, is still voting for Graham out of party loyalty. "I, by and large, support the Republican platform," he said.

Voter frustration over the economy, gas prices and the war in Iran is shaping the year, and Republicans are defending close contests in Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska, while both parties watch Mississippi. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown, challenging Sen. Jon Husted, said at a Toledo rally that families "see more money going out the door and not enough money coming in," and accused Husted of "looking out for data centers and Wall Street."

In Alaska, Gov. Dunleavy's office aside, the state's Republican governor ordered an investigation after The New York Times reported Wednesday that Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign appeared to have helped recruit another candidate sharing the name of GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. The Justice Department escalated its own probe Thursday with new grand jury subpoenas, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump called it a "conspiracy," demanded Peltola be removed from the ballot, and has questioned whether she would be seated if she won. Peltola, speaking in Soldotna, called the report a "distraction" from issues like Sullivan's support for the war in Iran. Separately, the Justice Department subpoenaed California officials, and a federal judge appointed a special master to assess the administration's claim that about 20,000 noncitizens are on the state's voter rolls.

With Election Day Tuesday, Trump said, "We're going to have a strong Tuesday night." South Carolina, Ohio, Alaska and Kansas are among the races to watch.