President Trump kicks off month-long stint on campaign trail for GOP candidates
WASHINGTON (NBC, KYMA) - President Donald Trump kicked off his month-long stint on the campaign trail for GOP candidates Thursday.
He has promised to stump for 35 of them this month, starting off in Oklahoma and Texas, but with his approval ratings low, some GOP candidates in tight races are distancing themselves from the president on critical issues.
President Trump began his on-the-road midterms push in deep red territory, with stops in Oklahoma and Texas, where polls show Democrat James Talarico ahead of Republican Ken Paxton in a critical Senate race.
The New York Times released leaked audio, saying it shows Paxton, the state's scandal-plagued attorney general, telling donors the Republican midterm convention aimed at boosting candidates and the president's record "dropped our numbers. Everybody's numbers dropped."
Trump dismissed that saying, "I haven't heard that, but I can tell you that the convention was amazing."
Democrats are hoping the president's low approval ratings give them a shot at picking up seats in Republican strongholds as they look to flip control of Congress.
"We Dems have the wind in our sails heading into October and the final stretch," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate Minority Leader.
Some Republicans in tight races, distancing themselves from the president on key issues, like Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), who's running for Senate, calling for an end to the Iran war, and Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) criticizing the president's immigration crackdown --
These earned push back from the president, who pointed to historic trends that the party in power often struggles in midterm elections as he now takes that message to the trail.
"I've done a very bad job of explaining how good the country is doing. We're doing better than any country in the world economically," the president remarked.
Trump also defended controversial taxpayer-funded ads that started running last week. The ads promote his record.
The administration calls them public service announcements, and the president said they're for the spirit of our country, adding that if somebody said it's wrong, he'll gladly pay the money.
