Ballrooms. Cognitive tests. The male physique.
As President Donald Trump closes out the midterm election season with a sprint through ruby red America, his message to voters has veered into some unexpected places.
More than ever before, his stops have been remarkable because they’re about one thing: Trump himself. His message to voters is to pretend he’s on the ballot, no matter how unpopular he’s become. Concerns about the direction of the country, or the cost of living, are mostly shoved to the side.
Jetting on Air Force One to states not considered competitive even a few months ago, Trump has privately reflected that the rallies he’s holding now are likely the last where he’s the party’s standard-bearer.
That makes the 20-odd events he’s held this month perhaps the final iteration of the singular political function that is a Trump rally.
In some ways, that has given the onslaught the flavor of a farewell tour. The man who transformed the GOP and the nation’s politics, rally by raucous rally, is now dancing off the stage to the beat of “YMCA.”
CNN traveled across the country to cover the president’s rallies over the last two weeks, including to Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and Ohio — observing the president in action and talking to those who came to see him.
Here’s what stood out to our reporters on the ground.
Betsy Klein in Wichita, Kansas
I’ve been to Trump campaign rallies in nine states this year — some of them multiple times — after covering his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020 (with a Biden-Harris detour in 2024). It’s been striking how the makeup of his crowd has changed in that time.
The day Trump first announced his candidacy in June 2015, I was at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines for his first stop after coming down the Trump Tower escalator. That crowd was relatively bipartisan. A lot of people were curious. Many were undecided voters. Most just wanted to check it out. I talk to attendees everywhere I go, and this cycle, almost everyone I’ve met is voting straight-ticket Republican. These rally-goers are the most ardent supporters of Trump and his MAGA movement.
But there has been one exception: Kansas, a state that voted for Trump by a 16-point margin in 2024 and hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.
At Trump’s rally in the Wichita suburb of Park City on October 19, I talked to a young mom who was undecided in the Senate race between Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and the Democratic candidate, Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor. Her animating issue: the economy.
A small business owner told me he decided to vote for Hamilton after watching Trump’s rally.
“I truly believe Kansas has had enough, and there are plenty of us here to vote and make a difference,” he said.
Alayna Treene in Clemson, South Carolina
The livestock facility on the Clemson University campus was a familiar setting, both literally and figuratively, to one where you’d watch a rodeo.
At least a dozen times on October 21, I watched as unruly protesters were removed by security.
The heckling began within minutes of the president taking the podium.
“You’re a criminal!” I heard one person yell.
“F**k you!” a young man shouted, while flipping the president off with both hands.
“You’re a traitor!” another screamed.
President Donald Trump unbothered by hecklers at rally in Clemson, SC
Trump — who has faced regular demonstrators during his recent midterm rallies, more than I recall from covering his campaign in 2024 — brushed the disruptions off with humor.
“I don’t mind when they do that, but it’s always right at my punchline,” he joked following a trio of interruptions. “I’ve had three punchlines, and they time them beautifully.”
“These people are serious losers,” he said.
Adam Cancryn in Fort Myers, Florida
Trump was in his element during his return to southwest Florida — a deep-red area of a state that’s voted reliably Republican for the last decade.
But the fact that the president even had to spend precious time here on October 23 was a stark sign of the wider troubles the GOP faces. He devoted long portions of his speech pleading with the capacity crowd to turn out for downballot candidates. And at times, he seemed in disbelief that key races in Florida were close enough to require his intervention.
“Angie Nixon — I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it,” Trump said of Democrats’ Senate candidate, a Democratic socialist making a strong push to unseat Republican Sen. Ashley Moody. “Why can’t I have a candidate like that to run against? Why can’t I, Ashley?”
Trump spent limited time discussing the Iran war and rising gas prices that have made Florida competitive. Instead, he framed the midterms as another loyalty test: If voters supported him, they needed to go to the polls one more time.
“In this election, I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot, if you don’t mind,” he said.
Rafael Romo in Perry, Georgia
The moment that stood out in Perry, Georgia, on October 24 was Trump’s assertion that the United States is “making hundreds and hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars” in oil at a time when people are facing high prices at the pump.
Appearing to recognize the disconnect, the president acknowledged his aides had advised him not to mention gas prices and oil. “My people said, ‘please don’t mention that, sir!’” he said.
Trump says US is ‘making a freaking fortune’ amid Middle East conflict
Trump said the media would later report that “President Trump is talking about all the money we are making while people are suffering at the pump,” in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
“I don’t give a damn! I’m going to say it. We’re making a freaking fortune!” he thundered.
The crowd erupted in cheers. But I also noticed that some people in the back, closer to where the media riser was, looked at each other in disbelief.
Arlette Saenz in Port Huron, Michigan
When Trump took the stage in Port Huron, Michigan, on October 25, he had another president on his mind.
“My competitor was here yesterday,” he said referring to former President Barack Obama. “He didn’t have a crowd like this.”
Trump compares his rally size to Obama’s during Michigan campaign stop
Trump’s appearance in the Michigan city bordering Canada came within the same 24-hour span as Obama’s rally in Detroit. (I attended both, and each had sizable crowds, despite Trump’s claim Obama’s event was “sparse.”)
The weekend showcased a rare and remarkable split screen between two presidents offering their competing visions for the country.
With the election nine days away, Trump appeared hyper focused on two things — lobbing anti-Muslim attacks against Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and musing about people’s posteriors, including that of Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted.
“I looked at (Husted’s) ass, and I’ve never done that with a man before. Off the record: Women yes, men no,” Trump said.
He singled out one woman.
“By the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before, Nicki Minaj,” Trump said, asking the rapper, an ally of his, to stand up. “That’s hard to miss.”
Trump comments on rapper Nicki Minaj’s body
Trump was technically there to campaign for GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers, but that type of commentary seemed more about entertaining his adoring crowd than trying to move the needle with voters in a state hit hard by high gas prices and his trade war with Canada.
Trump teased a compliment for Rogers too — if it would help him win.
“I’d say that about your ass, too, Mike, if it gets you a guaranteed victory. I’ll do anything because we got to get you in,” he said.
Kevin Liptak in Corinth, Mississippi
Extensive recounting of his renovation projects is not unusual for Trump during his rallies, even though many of his advisers would prefer he avoid the topic when speaking to audiences thousands of miles away from the White House who will never see or benefit from the work.
Trump has not taken that advice, and in Mississippi on October 26, he seemed particularly agitated that Obama had maligned his design taste as akin to “Saddam Hussein” opening “a Cheesecake Factory.”
Declaring the Cheesecake Factory a “very successful company,” Trump said Obama just didn’t understand the presidential imperative of building maintenance.
“The White House represents our country, and that has to be pristine,” he said. “And I would try and explain that to a guy like Obama, but he wouldn’t understand.”
Trump says Obama ‘doesn’t understand’ beauty standards of the White House
Trump insisted he was actually spending very little time on the projects, but went on to describe in detail his efforts to repair the North Portico’s plaster and install a new helipad on the South Lawn.
Inside the Crossroads Arena, those details were not met with particularly rapturous applause. At one point, a protester screamed, “Shove that ballroom up your fat ass,” in a voice that was extremely clear in the room and on-camera.
Trump jokes a hamburger and dessert cost $5K at Mar-a-Lago
Arlette Saenz in Lubbock, Texas, and Ed Lavendera in Corpus Christi, Texas
One week out from the election, Trump hit the campaign trail for a Texas two-step with rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock for GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton.
At both stops on October 27, Trump dangled $5,000 checks for Americans if Republicans win control of the House and Senate. In Corpus Christi, he invited voters to spend their cash payment at Mar-a-Lago — before quipping they wouldn’t be able to afford it.
“You could even come to Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “The problem is that for $5,000, the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert. I’m not even sure you could buy that. No, don’t go there. That’s not a good place if you’re price conscious.”
Trump comments on Mar-a-Lago pricing
The joke is an example of Trump’s propensity for going off message to entertain his crowd — with results that sometimes make others in the GOP cringe, especially as affordability remains a top concern for voters.
Trump had been expected to campaign with three prominent football players with Texas roots; ultimately, only two showed up. Later in the day, Trump campaigned with Paxton in Lubbock, a northwestern Texas county he won by 40 points in the last election.
“It’s pretty fun to hang out with the president of the United States for a whole day,” Paxton said on stage. “As we were arriving in Lubbock, he said, ‘You know, I don’t usually do two rallies for anybody.’ He said, ‘I must really like you.’ Mr. President, I really like you too.”
Betsy Klein in Chillicothe, Ohio, and Kevin Liptak in Sioux City, Iowa
In multiple stops, Trump delivered a lengthy defense of what has become arguably the most polarizing ad of the 2026 campaign cycle: a spot featuring the estranged mother of Ohio’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Amy Acton.
The ad — which came from Ohio GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign — has been widely condemned on both sides of the aisle, including by current Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Acton’s mother calls her daughter a “liar” in the ad. Acton has said she hasn’t seen her mother since she was 12, when her mother lost custody of her children as Acton’s stepfather was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexually abusing her.
In his first trip to the Buckeye State since the ad began to air, Trump told a crowd that included Ramaswamy that any pushback was “very unfair.”
“The mother said that Amy Acton, the daughter, is a liar. That she’s no good. That she lied about the opponent. How the hell is that his problem? Very unfair,” Trump said on October 28, prompting raucous applause from a gymnasium crowd.
Trump similarly embraced the ad in Sioux City, Iowa, the week before. What made that moment somewhat awkward was that the candidate he was ostensibly there to stump for — GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate — had earlier in the day decried the ad as “ridiculous” and said it “needs to come down.”
Hinson was watching off-stage as Trump recounted a conversation he said he had earlier in the week with Ramaswamy. Trump said he urged Ramaswamy to buck Republican calls to take the ad down. Later, the president summoned Hinson on stage, and she didn’t mention it.
It was another example of Trump putting vulnerable Republicans in tough spots. And listening to his speech inside an airplane hangar, it was evident why so many Republicans wish he would stick to issues that are clearer drivers of turnout on their side.
Alayna Treene in Rock Hill, South Carolina
Trump was hyper-fixated on recent polling while in South Carolina on October 29 — insisting that surveys published by the media are “not real” and “totally phony.”
He took particular umbrage with polls testing his approval rating.
“They are so full of it. ‘Donald Trump is at 42%.’ 42%? You mean times two? And add 20. Boy, they are bad. They’re sick people. Fake polls,” he said.
It wasn’t clear which poll the president was referencing. CNN’s Poll of Polls average puts his approval rating at 34%.
After criticizing recent polls for several minutes, Trump took a poll of his own.
“Let me ask you a question: How many polls, how many people in this room were ever polled? Has anybody been polled? Seriously. Raise your hand,” he asked the crowd, which was filled with MAGA hats and sparkly Trump garb. “I’m curious. I’ve never known one person as a Republican anyway.”
Trump asks his own rally crowd if they participate in polls
Very few attendees — I counted maybe a dozen in the room — raised their hands.
While the president and many GOP operatives have been quick to dismiss polls as often being wrong or undercounting Republican voters, it’s harder to discount the time and energy Trump has spent in reliably red states.
Julia Benbrook in Daytona Beach, Florida
“Is there anything better than a Trump rally?” the president asked soon after taking the stage on the Friday before Election Day.
For a moment earlier that day, it seemed like this rally could be the grand finale, with a restful weekend at Mar-a-Lago on the horizon. Within the previous 24 hours, his planned weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa had been cancelled and then put back on his schedule.
“I thought this was going to be my last one,” Trump told the crowd in Florida. “I thought I could relax.”
His voice sounding hoarse, the president lamented the toll of the past month. “Twenty-eight days in a row of this crap is lot. It’s a lot. My voice is about operating at about 49.2%.”
Trump said his voice is operating at “about 49.2%” as he talks about participating in upcoming rallies in Iowa and Kansas
After his team decided he’d deliver his weekend closing arguments via telerally, the president grew irked at the media coverage of the cancelled events, CNN reported.
But in Trump’s telling in Forida, Republicans in those states asked him to come in person. “I said, ‘Does it matter?’ They said, ‘We just want to make sure that we win.”
Another 90-minute rally seemed to convince him that he had juice for more.
“And so on Sunday, while you’re all watching football, I’ll be traveling in a very beautiful airplane to Iowa, to Kansas.”
