Trump heads to Texas, Oklahoma hoping to boost Republican candidates ahead of the midterms

President Donald Trump is hitting the campaign trail on Thursday, coming to North Texas and Oklahoma to shore up lagging enthusiasm in the GOP ahead of next month's midterm elections.

Mr. Trump's first stop on Thursday will be a visit to Peterbilt Motors in Denton, about 30 miles north of Fort Worth, where he is expected to tout his economic agenda. 

"The President's America First trade agenda is driving a manufacturing renaissance that will continue paying dividends for the great state of Texas and Americans across the country," A White House spokesperson said in a statement.  

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, was planning to be with Mr. Trump at the event in Denton, the Associated Press reported, citing sources. Most recent polls show Paxton trailing the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who is vying to be the first Texas Democrat to win statewide office more than 30 years.

After the event at Peterbilt, Mr. will travel to a campaign rally in Durant, Okla., 85 miles north of Dallas, before heading back to Washington.

Mr. Trump's travel kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3, attempting to persuade GOP voters to pretend his name is on the ballot.

Democrats say Trump and the Republicans are desperate

Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that "the president is barnstorming the country, energizing our base, and supercharging Republican candidates in battleground districts and beyond."

The Democratic National Committee said Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance are "desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat."

"Donald Trump and JD Vance started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher, and now — in the final stretch to the midterms — they're desperately pleading with voters to 'give (them) another chance,'" said DNC deputy communications director Kendall Witmer.

In Oklahoma, Mr. Trump will campaign with Republican Mike Mazzei, who is running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson in the race for governor.

Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said Trump's campaign rally shows that Republicans "are in full-on panic mode."

"This race continues to get more competitive — and national Republicans are right to be worried about Mazzei," he said.

Vance is also stumping for GOP candidates

Mr. Trump will be campaigning in more politically competitive areas in the days and weeks ahead as he embarks on his travel blitz, but Republican officials will not send him to places where they think his presence could drag down their candidates, according to a person familiar with the party's strategy who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Trump's Oklahoma visit, and likewise one on Friday to Alabama, are aimed at hitting two targets with one stop, the person said.

Republican officials have noted that Durant is close to the Dallas and Fort Worth media market, meaning Mr. Trump's message will also be carried to Texas voters, and he's expected to talk about Paxton even while addressing voters in the neighboring state.

His Friday stop in Mobile, Alabama, is aimed not only at boosting Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for Alabama governor but also at shoring up support in Florida's adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds. Donalds is running for Florida governor against David Jolly, the Republican-turned-independent who is now running as a Democrat.

Donalds' campaign in heavily GOP Florida comes as Republicans there have faced some turbulence and voter concerns about affordability and artificial intelligence data centers have become central issues.

While Mr. Trump is in Oklahoma and Texas, Vance campaigned for Donalds in central Florida. That came a day after the vice president campaigned in Texas, rallying with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas.

Vance, speaking in Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday, acknowledged broader discontentment over the high prices in the U.S. but shifted the blame away from Mr. Trump and Republicans.

"I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress," he said, but "we have spent every single day fighting for you, digging ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in."

Mr. Trump will also campaign on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and on Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Trump is expected to campaign for the GOP almost daily

In a meeting on Capitol Hill this week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described privately to GOP senators that Mr. Trump will have a near-daily sprint of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.

Wiles showed Republicans the president's upcoming travel schedule, which attendees described as extensive and almost every day, all across the country.

West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that White House officials are "acknowledging the headwinds" but that "they have a strategy, and we have a strategy," including money that the president's operation will continue to deploy.

Capito also defended the White House's plan to send Mr. Trump to traditionally conservative territory, arguing that he can motivate the Republican base not just where he travels but elsewhere in the country because he has such a broad reach.

"He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else," Capito said.