President Donald Trump is continuing his midterm campaign spree in Nebraska on Oct. 5, a state he has largely won three times.
Trump's appearance in the Cornhusker State follows several days of campaigning for Republicans as they fight to retain control of Congress in the midterm elections. The president's party historically loses seats in the midterm elections, a trend that could be exacerbated by Trump's historically low approval ratings. He has vowed to visit 35 of the most competitive races in the weeks leading up to Election Day, and in the last several days has traveled to Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Alabama.
“I won all of them by a lot. I’m going there just to make sure,” Trump told reporters Oct. 1 as he headed to Texas. Nebraska is also
seen as a reliably Republican state. Here is what to know about Trump's visit.
Why is Trump going to Nebraska?
Trump will be speaking in Grand Island, Nebraska, where he will campaign with Sen. Pete Ricketts. Trump won Nebraska overall by over 20 percentage points in 2024. (Nebraska splits its electoral votes and awarded the Democratic presidential candidate one of its five votes in 2020 and 2024.)
Ricketts is running in a surprisingly tight race against independent Dan Osborn, who has been backed by Democrats. The race is rated as likely Republican by the Cook Political Report, but both sides have millions in ad spending earmarked for the race, one of the most expensive in the country.
Trump is expected to talk about his efforts to cut taxes and support farmers during his appearance, according to a release from the White House.
What is Trump's approval rating in Nebraska?
Aggregated by several pollsters, here is where Trump's national average approval rating stands as of Oct. 5:
- RealClearPolitics Poll Average: 38.4% approve, 59.4% disapprove
- New York Times: 37% approve, 60% disapprove
- Silver Bulletin: 37.8% approve, 59.7% disapprove
In Nebraska, Trump's approval rating is also net negative by 16 percentage points, according to The Economist's projections of YouGov data.
See Trump's 2018 midterm record
In the 2018 midterm elections during Trump's first term, Republicans lost 41 House seats and gained two Senate seats, according to the American Presidency Project. (In the 2022 midterms under former President Joe Biden, Democrats lost nine House seats and won one Senate seat.) Republicans held all three seats in Nebraska in the 2018 midterms.
Where else has Trump traveled for the midterms?
Trump is planning on traveling far and wide over the next month to campaign for the midterms.
"I'll be with you 100 percent. We're going to do something like I did for myself in the last presidential election. Four months out, I said, 'OK, no days off,'" Trump said at a Sept. 2 Rose Garden dinner. He said he plans to visit all 35 of the most competitive House and Senate races, even saying he will go as far as Alaska.
Here's a look at where he started:
Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Threads, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump won Nebraska handily in 2024. Why is he campaigning there now?
