President Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail on Sunday, November 1, with rallies in Iowa and Kansas — two Republican-leaning Farm Belt states where his party is fighting to hold United States Senate seats — just two days before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

The trip is a reversal. On Thursday, October 29, the Republican National Committee cancelled Trump's planned weekend rallies in Iowa and Kansas and said he would campaign instead through more than 20 tele-rallies — a change this site reported at the time. Within about a day the in-person rallies were restored, the Associated Press reported on Friday, October 30, citing a person familiar with the plans, and both events are now confirmed on the campaign's Sunday schedule.

Where and when: Dubuque first, Salina tonight

The Iowa rally is at the Five Flags Event Center, 405 Main Street in Dubuque, where Trump is campaigning for Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson and other Iowa Republicans. The campaign's listing puts his remarks at 3 p.m. Central Time, while the venue's own listing shows an earlier programme beginning at 12:30 p.m. Central with remarks around 2 p.m. Central — attendees have been told to check their registration confirmations. Advance registration is required.

The Kansas rally follows the same evening at Salina Regional Airport, Hangar 509, 2734 Arnold Court in Salina, with Trump's remarks listed for 7 p.m. Central Time. He is campaigning there for Senator Roger Marshall and Kansas Republicans. The Salina event was originally scheduled for Saturday, October 31, before the cancellation and restoration moved it to Sunday.

Dubuque has been preparing for days. Local reporting says parking restrictions began Friday evening, October 30, with street closures around the Five Flags Event Center, including Locust Street, from Saturday morning; the Federal Aviation Administration placed a temporary flight restriction around the venue for Sunday, and Dubuque County Sheriff Joe Kennedy warned the public to stay away from Dubuque Regional Airport roads and the observation deck unless they have official business there.

The two Senate races behind the trip

In Iowa, Republican Representative Ashley Hinson is running against Democratic state Representative Josh Turek for the seat being vacated by retiring Senator Joni Ernst. Trump won Iowa by double digits in 2024, but polls now show Democrats tied with or leading Republicans in many of the state's races, according to Reuters.

In Kansas, Senator Roger Marshall faces an unexpectedly close race in a state that last elected a Democratic senator in 1932. An Emerson College poll conducted October 26-28 put Democrat Adam Hamilton at 49 percent and Marshall at 45 percent among likely voters, with a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 points — a poll result, not a forecast, and one reason the restored Salina stop matters to Republicans.

"His agenda, without any question, is on the ballot," Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who heads the Republican Senate campaign committee, told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, predicting his party would keep its Senate majority. Reuters reported that if Democrats take the House or the Senate, they could block Trump's legislative agenda for his final two years and open investigations, and that the White House has been preparing to advance parts of the agenda without Congress.

Alaska and Michigan: the other Sunday fights

Senate control could also turn on Alaska, where polls show Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan in a tight race with Democrat Mary Peltola. Sullivan said Sunday he would accept Tuesday's result, even as the Trump administration presses a criminal investigation into another challenger on the ballot named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. The Justice Department has asked a court to prevent certification of Alaska's vote if Sullivan loses narrowly, and Governor Mike Dunleavy has suggested he may not certify a Peltola victory. "They got the decoy guy on the ballot," Sullivan told CNN's State of the Union. Peltola's side and Sullivan Jr. have denied any coordination, and House Oversight Chairman James Comer said his panel has opened its own investigation into Peltola's role — claims that remain allegations at this stage.

In Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers, it was unclear whether Representative Haley Stevens — the rival El-Sayed beat in the primary — would attend a Sunday Detroit event billed as a show of party unity. El-Sayed's campaign asked Stevens to skip his events through Election Day, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. "It's certainly unhelpful to the El-Sayed campaign to have continued visible division within the party just before Election Day," said Matt Grossmann, a political scientist at Michigan State University.

Earlier this week the plan looked very different: the weekend rallies were cancelled in favour of a phone blitz. Read the earlier cancellation story