The president is expected to hold rallies in Oklahoma and Alabama next week.
After a break from the campaign trail to host China’s president in Washington — and to attend sporting events in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Chicago this weekend — President Donald Trump is planning to get back to the rally stage next week.
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But instead of visiting some of the nation’s most competitive House districts or Senate races, Trump is set to visit much friendlier territory: Oklahoma and Alabama.
The red-state itinerary comes as Trump’s approval rating remains at a second-term low and as a growing number of Republicans in competitive races are distancing themselves from him.
The president is scheduled to attend rallies in Durant, Oklahoma, on Thursday and in Mobile, Alabama, the next day. Oklahoma is a state Trump won in 2024 with 66 percent of the vote — and won all 77 counties. In Alabama, Trump won with 65 percent.
A Republican official with knowledge of the Trump team’s planning, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy, said the two rallies may also be covered by media markets in surrounding states with more competitive races — Texas, in the case of Durant, and Florida for Mobile.
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Both Alabama and Oklahoma have open-seat gubernatorial races this year that Republicans “feel good” about, the person said, but the rallies will serve as a turnout boost. Mobile is also just outside a House district that Republicans redrew this year but it is proving to be more competitive than they had hoped.
Calling the two rally locations “very strategic,” the official said Trump is “hitting places where we want to drive turnout.”
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