By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump headed on Monday to deeply Republican Mississippi where an unexpectedly competitive US Senate race has given Democrats a rare opening ahead of next week’s congressional elections.
Trump, a Republican, has been visiting normally safe Republican states as part of a final blitz ahead of the November 3 vote, with party strategists telling Reuters they are on edge about races from Alaska to South Carolina.
Trump is expected to visit Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida and Iowa in the final days of the campaign. The president was due to start speaking at 6 p.m. CDT (2300 GMT).
All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are on the ballot, with public opinion polls suggesting the Democrats will regain control of the House and have a chance to retake the Senate.
A Republican victory would preserve Republican control of Congress, which Trump has enjoyed since returning to the White House after the 2024 election, while a Democratic victory could impede the president and trigger congressional investigations into his administration.
LAST DEMOCRAT ELECTED SENATOR IN MISSISSIPPI 44 YEARS AGO
Democrats last won a Senate seat in Mississippi in 1982. Trump carried the state by nearly 23 percentage points in 2024, and he won the northeastern Mississippi county he was set to visit on Monday by 68 percentage points.
But several election analysts no longer regard US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s reelection as a sure bet. The Trump-endorsed Republican faces Democrat Scott Colom, a district attorney from the Columbus area, and independent Ty Pinkins, a military veteran and attorney who previously ran statewide as a Democrat.
Senate Majority PAC announced a $1.2 million ad campaign in support of Colom last week, and Democrats have dispatched big-name figures from former Vice President Kamala Harris to former presidential primary candidate Pete Buttigieg to campaign alongside the Democratic candidate.
Colom said he would attend Monday’s Trump rally to talk to voters about their concerns.
Mikel Bolden, executive director of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said in an emailed statement that Trump’s policies had “created real uncertainty around healthcare, food assistance, economic stability, and voting rights.”
Democrats are contesting all three Republican-held House seats in Mississippi, but none is viewed as a likely pickup opportunity. A fourth seat, represented by US Representative Bennie Thompson in a heavily Black district, is considered safe for the Democrats.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)
