President Donald Trump stood before a packed airport hangar in Sioux City on Thursday and asked Iowa Republicans to treat next month’s election as if he were on the ballot himself.
“I’m asking you to pretend I’m running,” he told the crowd, the Des Moines Register reported. “Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
Trump shared the stage with Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, as his campaigning moves through states that look unexpectedly competitive. Iowa went for Trump by 13 percentage points in 2024, but recent visits to Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky suggest Republicans are spending heavily to defend states they once took for granted.
Iowa is home to several tight races. Hinson faces Democrat Josh Turek for the Senate seat, and contests for governor and three House districts are drawing national attention. Iowa Republicans are counting on conservative western Iowa, where Thursday’s rally was held, to act as a firewall against Democratic gains elsewhere in the state.
The Sioux City event is the first of two Iowa rallies Trump plans before Election Day, with the second scheduled for November 1.
Source: Des Moines Register
