Candidates get final pitches from Trump, Obama, Pence

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump kicked off a final rally blitz with just days to go before midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress. He’ll attend 11 events across eight battlefield states over the next six days.

The final push began Wednesday night in Estero, just outside Fort Myers, in Florida, where Republican Gov. Rick Scott is challenging Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for a U.S. Senate seat. Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis are locked in a tight race to replace Scott as governor. Trump’s rally lineup also includes a stop in Pensacola, Fla. He has scheduled two rallies each in Indiana and Missouri, plus stops in Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Montana and West Virginia.

Former President Barack Obama also will campaign in Florida, appearing Friday for Nelson and Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor.

On Sunday, the former president will be in Gary, Ind., for Sen. Joe Donnelly, who is among the most endangered Senate Democrats, and in Obama’s hometown of Chicago for J.B. Pritzker, who is the favorite in Illinois’ race for governor.

While Trump is not on the ballot this time around, both Democratic and Republican strategists have reported that Trump’s rallies — the centerpiece of his unconventional and underestimated 2016 campaign — have been a boost for local candidates, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in free media exposure.

Trump supporters began lining up around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday outside Hertz Arena. And by late morning, there were about 3,000 people already in line for the event scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Some local businesses were letting their employees take the day off so they could attend, according to the Naples Daily News.

More than 3.4 million people have already voted in Florida, surpassing the number who voted early or by mail four years ago.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence was accompanied by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, for a rally attended by several hundred people inside a hangar at an airport in Mansfield, Ohio.

It was aimed at helping Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who is running for governor, Senate candidate Jim Renacci and Republican members of Congress.

Democrats are defending several Senate incumbents in Republican-leaning states in their quest to narrow the GOP’s 51-49 majority. The terrain is more favorable in the House, where Democrats need a net pickup of 23 seats to recapture the majority, and in several states with vulnerable Republican governors.