Trump Takes His Midterm Push to the Mountain West as GOP Defends Once-Safe Ground
Three weeks before Election Day, the president is campaigning in states that Republicans have long counted on without much worry.
BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. — Wednesday finds President Donald Trump in two states that don’t usually see a presidential visit this close to an election. Party event listings show him scheduled to speak at an airport rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, before heading to Kalispell, Montana. The November 3 midterms are about three weeks away, and the day follows a Tuesday rally in Wasilla, Alaska.
Where a president chooses to spend his time shows where his party feels pressure. Alaska and Montana both backed Trump by wide margins in 2024, and both now have Senate races Republicans can’t call safe.
A map drawn for defense
Trump’s recent schedule has included Texas, Ohio, Nebraska and New York. Nexstar’s national desk described the Alaska stop as part of an effort to shore up traditionally safe Republican seats while the party trails in races elsewhere.
In Alaska, according to Nexstar, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faces former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in a tight race. Nexstar also reported that Peltola has built her pitch around the cost of living and Sullivan’s votes on tariffs and the Iran conflict. Sullivan’s camp has not been quoted on that framing here.
The rallies themselves carry a risk. Nexstar cited audio, published by The New York Times, in which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee, told donors that a Trump event had hurt him. “Everybody’s numbers dropped,” he said. Paxton’s remark describes one candidate in one state, and it is not a measure of Trump’s pull nationally. Still, it shows why some Republicans are uneasy about how much a presidential visit helps.
Arizona: a governor’s race and early ballots
The Bullhead City rally falls about a week into Arizona’s early voting period. Trump held a rally at the same venue, Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport, in 2020, and KTAR reported that gates open at 9:30 a.m., with Trump expected to speak at 1 p.m. Mohave County, in Arizona’s northwest corner, is solidly Republican territory, which fits the pattern of Trump campaigning where his base is strongest.
At stake is the governorship. iHeartRadio’s coverage lists Rep. Andy Biggs as the Republican challenging Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who wants a second term. KLAS in Las Vegas pointed out that Arizona is among five states with a Democratic governor on the ballot that Trump won in 2024. Republicans see it as a pickup opportunity, though The Hill described the party as facing tough political headwinds there.
Biggs is scheduled to speak at the rally, and Reps. Paul Gosar and Abe Hamadeh are also expected to attend, the Arizona Republic reported. The paper said at least one Republican in a toss-up race will skip the event. Democrats have been trying to tie their GOP opponents to the president, and the Arizona Republic noted that the visit could be a liability as much as a boost. A day earlier, former President Barack Obama endorsed Hobbs, 12News reported. Reports available before the rally had not yet described what Trump said.
Montana: a Senate race the Democrats can’t agree on
The Kalispell rally, at the Majestic Valley Arena, is listed as supporting congressional candidate Aaron Flint. The more closely watched contest in the state is for the U.S. Senate.
Republican Kurt Alme, a former U.S. attorney for Montana, is the favorite of his party. He entered the race on the filing deadline in March, when Sen. Steve Daines withdrew and endorsed him, as Montana Free Press reported. Democrat Alani Bankhead, a retired Air Force officer, won her primary on June 2. Independent Seth Bodnar, who resigned as University of Montana president to run, is also on the ballot, along with Libertarian Kyle Austin.
The three-way dynamic has divided Democrats for months. In July, 17 Democratic legislators signed a letter asking either Bankhead or Bodnar to drop out. The Daily Montanan reported at the time that polls with all three candidates showed Alme leading by 15 to 20 points, with the other two splitting a combined share roughly equal to his. Newer polling points the same way. A NonStop Local/American Pulse poll published October 5 had Alme at 45 percent, Bodnar at 26 and Bankhead at 19. Decision Desk HQ’s polling average, cited by The Hill, put Alme at 43.4 percent, Bodnar at 27.1 and Bankhead at 18.3. Bankhead has refused to step aside, saying she won her party’s nomination in an election.
This week, the split deepened. Shannon O’Brien resigned as chair of the Montana Democratic Party on October 12 and endorsed Bodnar, according to Congress.net and The Hill. She did so in an op-ed for MS NOW, arguing that the clearest path to advancing Democratic values runs through an independent candidate. Her break is notable partly because of her position. Party chairs rarely abandon their own nominee.
Bodnar’s coalition crosses party lines. Montana Public Radio reported endorsements from two former Democratic senators, Jon Tester and Max Baucus, and from Republicans including former Gov. Mark Racicot and ex-state party chair Susan Geise.
Bodnar’s candidacy is not free of controversy. Bankhead has criticized his time at the university, citing a gender discrimination lawsuit that was settled in 2024. Bodnar’s camp has said no wrongdoing was found in that suit and that most allegations described a longstanding campus culture predating his tenure.
A court ruling in the background
Trump’s travel coincided with a legal setback over his relationship with the press. Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a 2017 Trump appointee, issued a preliminary injunction keeping White House access in place for CNN, MS NOW and Politico while their lawsuit moves forward, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.
The outlets lost their hard-pass credentials after Trump announced a ban on September 18. Kelly had restored access on a temporary basis on September 24. In his written ruling, he found the outlets likely to succeed on due process and free-speech claims, and wrote that the administration had engaged in “unlawful viewpoint discrimination,” as The Hill quoted him.
The Justice Department has argued that White House access is a privilege and that the outlets’ reporting threatened national security. The injunction stops short of ordering access to the Oval Office or Air Force One, CNBC reported. Since a preliminary injunction can be appealed, the fight may continue. Trump had not publicly responded to the ruling in the latest reports.
What comes next
Early voting is already underway in Arizona, and ballots in Montana will follow the usual schedule ahead of November 3. For Republicans, the rallies are an attempt to turn out base voters in places where the margins should be wide. For Democrats, the risk is different: in Montana especially, the party is fighting itself as much as its opponent.
Whether either strategy works will be answered at the polls. For now, the unusual sight of a president campaigning in Wasilla, Bullhead City and Kalispell within 48 hours suggests that neither party sees the map as settled.
