Trump, ignoring polls, predicts economy to help Republicans in midterms

CORINTH, Mississippi, Oct 26 - US President Donald Trump campaigned on Monday in deeply Republican Mississippi, predicting victory for a Republican Senate candidate based on what he deemed to be a booming US economy, while also repeating his claim that oil prices would soon plummet.Trump, a Republican, has been on a campaign blitz through normally safe Republican states ahead of the November 3 vote, with party strategists telling Reuters they are on edge about races from Alaska to South Carolina, in part because of voter discontent over how Trump's tariffs and the Iran war have fueled inflation.Sounding hoarse from his recent series of campaign rallies, Trump remarked, "God didn't make your vocal cords to do a rally every day."Trump is expected to visit Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida and Iowa in the final days of the campaign, with voter concerns over affordability likely to weigh on Republicans, pollsters say.Trump acknowledged the war in Iran has pushed up oil prices, but said it was a small price to pay to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon."I thought the price of oil was going to go much, much higher," Trump said."It's worked out fine and it'll be over soon," Trump said about the war.All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are on the ballot, with public opinion polls suggesting the Democrats will regain control of the House and have a chance to retake the Senate.A Republican victory would preserve Republican control of Congress, which Trump has enjoyed since returning to the White House after the 2024 election, while a Democratic victory could impede the president and trigger congressional investigations into his administration.In Mississippi, an unexpectedly competitive US Senate race has given Democrats a rare opening ahead of next week's congressional elections.Democrats last won a Senate seat in Mississippi in 1982. Trump carried the state by nearly 23 percentage points in 2024, and he won the northeastern Mississippi county he was set to visit on Monday by 68 percentage points.But several election analysts no longer regard US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s reelection as a sure bet. The Trump-endorsed Republican faces Democrat Scott Colom, a district attorney from the Columbus area, and independent Ty Pinkins, a military veteran and attorney who previously ran statewide as a Democrat."Cindy's doing great but I've just got to make sure," Trump said. "I can't take a chance."After listing a series of economic achievements, many of them exaggerations or unverifiable claims, Trump said, "I can't help Cindy Hyde-Smith any better than that."Senate Majority PAC announced a $1.2 million ad campaign in support of Colom last week, and Democrats have dispatched big-name figures from former Vice President Kamala Harris to former presidential primary candidate Pete Buttigieg to campaign alongside the Democratic candidate.Colom came to Corinth on Monday, posting pictures of himself meeting with voters outside the venue where some 5,500 Trump supporters gathered inside."Walking the line outside the Trump rally in Corinth, I was reminded that more unites us than divides us here in Mississippi," Colom said on X. "When I’m elected to the U.S. Senate, I’ll represent every Mississippian — whether you voted for me or not."Democrats are contesting all three Republican-held House seats in Mississippi, but none is viewed as a likely pickup opportunity. A fourth seat, represented by US Representative Bennie Thompson in a heavily Black district, is considered safe for the Democrats. REUTERS