Trump Campaigns by Phone on Saturday, Then Rallies in Iowa and Kansas on Sunday as the Midterms Reach Their Closing Arguments

The president campaigned by telephone on Saturday. Donald Trump was scheduled to call into six tele-rallies after spending the morning and early afternoon at the golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to the Associated Press account of the closing weekend, read this cycle. His MAGA Inc. super PAC said the calls were lined up for races in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Michigan and two separate calls for Florida. 'Answer your phones, and ENJOY!' Trump posted Saturday on his social media site, as quoted in the account.

The virtual day is a pause, not a stop. On Sunday, Trump is set to hold rallies in Iowa and Kansas that were scheduled, pulled down and then rescheduled, the account reports — a return to the in-person format whose speeches often stretch past 90 minutes. The closing sprint comes as early balloting totals approached 50 million nationally heading into the weekend, against about 112 million total votes cast in the 2022 midterms.

The other party's closing voices were on the road too. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who would become speaker if Democrats win a House majority, campaigned in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District with former Rep. Elaine Luria: 'We're going to fight hard each and every day for an affordable America,' Jeffries said, according to the account. House Speaker Mike Johnson answered in a Michigan tossup district. The arithmetic underneath it all is unchanged: Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, Democrats need a net gain of at least four seats for a majority — and Texas, where Ken Paxton closed his Saturday in Fort Worth with the words 'Pray for our Texas. Pray for me,' is one of the races that could decide it. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.