President Donald Trump won’t land in Missouri until Thursday, but with control of the Senate at stake he’s already made plans to come back one more time before voters cast ballots.
Trump will cap off his tour of battleground states with a rally the night before Election Day in Cape Girardeau in an effort to help give Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley a final boost in his effort to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.
The rally will take place less than a week after Trump’s visit Thursday to Columbia. It will mark his seventh visit to the state since August 2017.
The visit demonstrates the significance the White House places on the Missouri race.
Trump has attacked McCaskill during each of his visits. He endorsed Hawley, a Republican, during a speech in St. Charles last year and has held multiple fundraisers for him during subsequent visits.
“We are finally putting America first,” Trump told a crowd in Springfield last month. “It’s all gonna start with Josh Hawley. We love Josh. He’s a star.”
The president had canceled a September trip to Cape Girardeau in the face of Hurricane Florence. In Kansas City in July, Hawley appeared with Trump onstage at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.
Trump will do 11 rallies in eight states between Wednesday and Election Day. In addition to Missouri, he is making two stops in both Indiana and Florida. All three states have races that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Trump has headlined 53 rallies in 23 states and 70 fundraisers during this two-year election cycle.
Bryan Lowry: 202-383-6167, @BryanLowry3