Apparently having secured Republican control of the U.S. Senate, President Trump is focusing on vulnerable House seats and may be planning California rallies just before Election Day.
The New York Times declared in January that the 2018 battle for U.S. Senate control was a “toss-up.” But media expectations of a Democrat capture of both chambers of Congress have evaporated.
Thanks to the chaotic confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and President Trump’s initial phase of his 40-day barnstorming campaign, there is now an 82.4 percent probability that the Republicans hold control of the U.S. Senate, according to the October 24 election poll by Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight.
With 12 days before the mid-terms and the GOP’s mission almost accomplished in the Senate, President Trump may shift focus to the U.S. House of Representatives, where FiveThirtyEight rates an 84 percent chance the Democrats will flip at least 23 Republican seats to gain majority control.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told the San Francisco Chronicle that President Trump may make a late-campaign swing through California to help defend seven vulnerable Republican seats: “Everything is on the table with the president and the party.” She added, “He has kept the last week of the campaign clear, and he’ll be where he is needed.”
The President Trump Rallies website is offering tickets for the following events: 1) Mosinee, Wisconsin on October 24; Charlotte, North Carolina on October 26; 3) Murphysboro, Illinois on October 27; and 4) Ft. Myers, Florida on October 31. But the last five days before the November 6 election seem open for California grand tour.
The Wassau Daily Herald commented that die-hard Wisconsin Trump supporters wearing MAGA hats had lined up for over 24 hours in Mosinee on Wednesday in temperatures that dropped into the 20-degree range for what looked like a “rock concert.”
President Trump gave a huge boost to the California Republican House delegation late last week by signing the Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West on October 19. The action directs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to “reduce regulatory burdens” and expedite environmental reviews provide more water and electric power to farmers.
Flanked at the Scottsdale, Arizona, signing were California Republican representatives Jeff Denham, Devin Nunes and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
President Trump commented: “For decades burdensome federal regulations have made it extremely difficult and expensive to build and maintain federal water projects.” The president added: “Some of the best farmland in the world, by the way, can’t be used because they don’t have water, but they actually have a lot of water.”