Trump cuts in-person rallies to 72-hour telerally sprint

The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that President Donald Trump will replace scheduled in-person rallies in Kansas and Iowa with a series of phone-based telerallies. The party stated this shift allows the president to address voters in nearly 20 states during a 72-hour sprint in the final days of the midterm election. The change comes as Republicans face tight contests in Texas, Ohio, Alaska, and Mississippi while attempting to hold control of Congress.

Trump traveled to Fort Mill, South Carolina, on Thursday for his second visit to the state in one month. He is campaigning for Senator Darline Graham, who is battling Democrat Annie Andrews for a U.S. Senate seat. South Carolina has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly three decades, but Andrews, a pediatrician, is urging voters to try something new. The president said he feels perfect despite questions about his health, snapping at a reporter who asked if he canceled the Kansas trip for medical reasons.

The president said he is not traveling to Kansas because incumbent Senator Roger Marshall is doing very well. Trump has held 25 rallies in October, falling short of a goal he previously set at more than 30. At a rally in Corinth, Mississippi, on Monday, he told the crowd that God did not make vocal cords for daily rallies. He now expects to speak for about 10 minutes during telerallies, compared to more than 90 minutes at in-person events. He plans to hold one more in-person rally in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Friday.

Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan called the schedule change a sign that Trump has given up. El-Sayed, who is in a close race against Republican Mike Rogers, said the president is an old man who has fully lost the midterms for his party. In South Carolina, Graham has struggled to connect with voters since being appointed by Governor Henry McMaster in July following her brother Lindsey Graham's death. Rep. Ralph Norman, who lost the primary runoff to Graham, criticized her as unqualified and refused to campaign with her.

Andrews appeared in Fort Mill on Wednesday and told voters she can be fired in six years if they are unhappy with her performance. In Ohio, Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown accused Republican Senator Jon Husted of looking out for data centers and Wall Street. Brown said families see more money leaving the door than coming in. Meanwhile, the Justice Department issued new grand jury subpoenas in Alaska after a report suggested Mary Peltola's campaign recruited a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. The White House has not released Trump's schedule for Monday, the final day of the campaign.

The Alaska governor ordered an investigation into the Peltola campaign. Trump called the situation a conspiracy and demanded Peltola be removed from the ballot. Peltola suggested the report was a distraction from Senator Sullivan's support for the war in Iran. The Justice Department also subpoenaed California officials to scrutinize local election administration. A federal judge appointed a special master to evaluate claims that 20,000 noncitizens are on California voter rolls. These developments underscore the volatility in the final days of the election cycle.