Tele-rallies replace campaign stops in the final push
President Trump is scheduled to give his closing remarks at 2 p.m. ET Monday at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., as the 2026 midterms neared their final stretch. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was scheduled to take part in tele-rallies in the morning and more tele-rallies later. Trump was not scheduled to be on the campaign trail in Texas, Kansas or Michigan, where big Senate races were coming down to the wire.
The Wall Street Journal said Trump was scheduled to speak for House and Senate Republican candidates. The paper said many signs indicated the election could come down to Trump’s low approval rating, the Iran War and high prices. It said many House and Senate Republican candidates had little they could do if those issues dominated, and it noted that Democrats had experienced their own setbacks in Alaska and Michigan during the past week.
The Wall Street Journal also reported a disagreement among allies of Democratic Party leaders and progressives over time, money and party strategy. Allies of the party’s leaders said privately that a faction within the party had unnecessarily pulled time and money into races that should have been easier for Democrats, at the expense of other candidates. Progressives said the party’s establishment was not doing everything possible to help them win, according to people familiar with the conversations. Both factions want a Democratic Senate, and the paper said Tuesday’s results were poised to intensify their disagreement over the party’s future.
On Sunday, Rep. Haley Stevens withdrew her endorsement of Democratic primary opponent Abdul El-Sayed and backed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s U.S. Senate contest. The reversal drew condemnations from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and from Stevens’s own state Democratic Party, which said she was no longer welcome as a member.
In Florida’s governor race, Democrat David Jolly has made political civility central to his campaign against Republican Byron Donalds, a congressman whom The Wall Street Journal described as a “staunch Trump ally.” The paper said Jolly was pitching a less divisive and more civil approach aimed at voters who want that kind of politics.
In Dallas in September, Trump implored Republicans to act as though he was on the ballot and said he believed he alone could drive Republican turnout. The Wall Street Journal said this might be true but noted that Trump could also drive turnout for Democrats. It pointed to the 2018 midterms as the high-water mark for voter turnout and the year Democrats seized back control of the House.
Trump’s closing run has included canceled and uncanceled rallies, a jungle-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago and a message that mixed praise for an estranged Democrat with an attack on one of his former lawyers. Trump described the former lawyer’s behavior as “totally obnoxious and outrageous,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump also commented on the posterior of multiple people and attacked Bill Maher in a 1,300-word Truth Social post. On Sunday, he alleged that multiple people had broken election laws and appeared to call for new investigations. The journal presented these choices as part of the closing message.
The venue also carries a political backdrop. The Wall Street Journal invoked charges, dropped charges and a confrontation with Jeanine Pirro as part of the Reflecting Pool’s controversies this year. It noted that the Lincoln Memorial is near the Kennedy Center, a proposed Triumphal Arch and a proposed new golf course.
The Wall Street Journal also asked whether the speech would end where it began. It asked whether Trump was stronger than he appeared and said only voters could determine the answer.