DUBUQUE, Iowa—President Donald Trump rounded out a multi-week campaign blitz with back-to-back rallies in Iowa and Kansas on Nov. 1 after the events were briefly scrapped.
Trump headlined more than two dozen rallies across the country through October to boost voter support and turnout for Republican candidates in key states, in a bid to help his party keep control of the House and Senate.
At his first rally on Sunday at the Five Flags Center, Trump invited U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) to join the Republican Party hours after she endorsed GOP candidate Mike Rogers for Michigan’s Senate seat over Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated her in the primary.
“She was very brave in doing it,” Trump said about Stevens. “So I don’t know Haley, I’ve never met Haley, but Haley said what few people are willing to say. I’d love her to join the Republican Party. Actually, I think that could happen.”
During his speech, which lasted around two hours, the president congratulated the Iowa Hawkeyes on their Halloween win over Wisconsin and then predicted, “We’re going to have a much bigger win on Tuesday.”
Iowa has a series of tight contests, including open races for governor, the U.S. Senate, and all four U.S. House districts—three of which are competitive.
Trump repeatedly endorsed U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), who is running for an open U.S. Senate seat in a close race against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek and Libertarian Thomas Laehn.
The Cook Political Report ranks the race as a “Toss Up.”
The president dismissed polls predicting that Democrats are gaining ground in key states and called on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) to discuss the polls around 50 minutes into his speech.
“I have been to the areas where they claim that this race is over,” Johnson said. “It is not over. Tuesday is when we decide. The mainstream media—the corrupt media, there’s a lot of corruption out there—are using fake polls, and they are trying to create this narrative that this race is over. It is on.
“We are going to turn out for the sake of Iowa, for the sake of America, for the sake of freedom,” he said.
Trump urged the crowd of approximately 5,000 people to go to the polls and vote like he’s on the ballot, as other elections often attract fewer voters than presidential elections despite their importance in determining the leadership of the legislative branch.
In 2026, almost 20 percent more absentee ballots have been submitted this election cycle than in the 2022 midterm election, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.
Three days before the election, the Secretary of State’s office reported that 202,569 ballots came from registered Democrats, 149,340 from registered Republicans, and 84,205 from no-party voters.
A handful of people, including 68-year-old Trump supporter Lyn Richardson, camped overnight next to the security tent outside of the Five Flags Center in order to get a front-row seat at Trump’s final tour stop on Nov. 1.
“I just really wanted to watch President Trump in person, and I truly believe in him. And I always pray for him every day,” Richardson told The Epoch Times.
Richardson, a retired accountant from the Philippines who said she immigrated to the United States legally in the 1980s, drove about four hours from Springfield, Illinois, to meet a friend and be among the first people in line for the rally.
The Illinois voter said she supported Trump since he announced his first bid for president in 2015 and was emotional while speaking about how grateful she is to be an American. She thanked Trump for his border policies and for helping reduce taxes on Social Security with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Trump was scheduled to speak at Salina Regional Airport in Kansas at 7 p.m. CT.
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