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Trump's deep-red tour

News · Heat 3.7 / 10 · 9 shows · 1h 3m airtime

On September 27, 2026, Trump announced campaign trips to Alabama and Oklahoma, skipping Texas before election day. The Alabama stop targets AL-2, a majority-minority district the Supreme Court struck down, which Trump won by 14 points but where 40 percent of the electorate is Black and turnout has surged. By late October he had campaigned in Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Georgia and Kentucky, with Michigan, Kansas, the Carolinas, Iowa, Florida and Ohio on the schedule, calling the swing a 32-day campaign tour, while Jeffries plans to visit 15 to 20 states in October. Reporting notes a Rose Garden dinner for about 30 competitive-race candidates on September 2, after which he has campaigned with only a handful, and that he…

How 9 podcasts covered it

  1. Pod Save America, 2026-09-27 (3:00 to 4:11)
    Notes Trump skips Texas for Alabama
    Notes Trump has no plans to return to Texas before election day, instead touring Alabama and Oklahoma, and that Texas Republicans are spending heavily to defend Paxton and Abbott. Adds that Trump's Alabama stop targets a district whose majority-minority status was struck down.
    New angle: Trump's Alabama trip targets AL-2, a majority-minority district the Supreme Court struck down.
  2. Pod Save America, 2026-09-27 (4:48 to 5:20)
    Drills into the Alabama stop
    Pfeiffer drills into the Alabama stop, arguing the trip could backfire: AL-2 is held by Democrat Shomari Figures, Trump won it by 14, and 40 percent of the electorate is Black with turnout up since the majority-minority district was struck down.
    New angle: Trump won AL-2 by 14 points, but 40 percent of its electorate is Black and turnout has surged.
  3. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-01 (1:01 to 2:06)
    Opens with the tour schedule
    Opens the episode with the tour itself: the schedule now runs through Senate battlegrounds as well as deep-red Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas, and adds that Vance launched the travel with a $3.2 billion shipyard visit in South Texas.
    New angle: Vance opened the midterm travel blitz with a $3.2 billion shipyard project visit in South Texas.
  4. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-01 (6:59 to 9:22)
    Explains the deep-red travel strategy
    Whitlock explains the deep-red travel strategy: Oklahoma stops reach Texas media markets, and the goal is keeping the 2024 coalition from sitting out. Adds a new figure on the Iowa side, another $10 million behind Ashley Hinson.
    New angle: Another $10 million is going into Iowa behind Ashley Hinson.
  5. Up First, 2026-10-01 (6:17 to 10:14)
    Reports from the road on Trump's stops
    Reports from the road: Trump's first stops are Oklahoma and Alabama, not the battlegrounds he promised. An RNC official says Durant sits near the Dallas-Fort Worth market and Mobile near the Florida panhandle, and a Bush-era strategist compares the map to 2006.
  6. The Headlines, 2026-10-02 (0:33 to 3:03)
    Reports betrayed Trump voters in the Rio Grande Valley
    Opens the episode on the first day of Trump's multi-state tour, then goes to the Rio Grande Valley with Jennifer Medina, where 2024 Trump voters describe feeling betrayed over the economy and deportations, including one woman whose brother was deported. Adds the on-the-ground voter reaction the tour card did not have.
    New angle: A Rio Grande Valley woman who voted for Trump in 2024 saw her brother deported this year.
  7. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-04 (2:18 to 3:05)
    Adds the 32-day swing framing
    Adds the framing of the tour itself: Trump calls it a 32-day campaign swing and says Republican candidates want him in their districts, while Jeffries plans to hit 15 to 20 states in October.
    New angle: Trump calls his swing a 32-day campaign tour; Jeffries plans to visit 15 to 20 states in October.
  8. The Rest Is Politics: US, 2026-10-06 (2:45 to 3:56)
    Updates the itinerary with a Nebraska stop
    Updates the tour itinerary: Trump has already campaigned in Texas and Alabama and is heading to Nebraska, with Republicans steering him away from swing districts. A new leg and a new state not on the card.
    New angle: Trump has campaigned in Texas and Alabama and is heading to Nebraska.
  9. Up First, 2026-10-15 (1:56 to 5:50)
    Adds the Rose Garden dinner and the campaign gap
    Adds the September 2 Rose Garden dinner for about 30 candidates in competitive races and the count since: Trump has campaigned with only a handful of them, a gap between the promised month-long blitz and the actual schedule.
    New angle: Trump held a Rose Garden dinner for about 30 competitive-race candidates on September 2; he has since campaigned with only a handful.
  10. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-17 (6:28 to 9:28)
    Adds Alaska, Arizona and Montana to the tour
    Runs through Trump's campaign map and adds Alaska, Arizona and Montana to the itinerary, with Susan Collins as the counterexample he stays away from. Frames the tour as a test of whether progressive nominees can win general elections.
    New angle: Trump is campaigning in Alaska, Arizona and Montana, and is staying away from Susan Collins.
  11. Pod Save America, 2026-10-18 (36:49 to 41:54)
    Adds the next rally stops and a party-share poll
    Takes up the final-stretch rally schedule and adds the next stops: Georgia, Kansas, Michigan and Ohio. Amy Walter argues there is little upside, citing an Echelon poll for Puck showing the Trump Republican share of the party has roughly halved since January 2025.
    New angle: An Echelon poll for Puck puts Trump Republicans at about 34 percent of the party, down from about 60 percent in January 2025.
  12. The Headlines, 2026-10-20 (2:54 to 4:42)
    Adds the tour itinerary and a defensive read
    Picks up the tour as it moves into Kansas, the Carolinas, Iowa, Florida and Georgia, all places Trump won by double digits. Adds the itinerary and a Times correspondent's read that the swing is defensive, plus Vance's North Carolina-to-Nebraska week.
    New angle: Trump's tour now runs through Kansas, the Carolinas, Iowa, Florida and Georgia; Vance goes from North Carolina to a Nebraska district Trump won by over 50.
  13. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-20 (35:06 to 37:12)
    Adds Michigan to the rally schedule
    Reads Trump's rally schedule off the screen and adds Michigan to the map, then weighs the linkage risk against the turnout upside. Notes Ashley Hinson's careful White House appearance with Trump, keeping her remarks on steel and Iowa.
    New angle: Trump's rally schedule now includes Michigan, alongside Kansas, the Carolinas, Iowa, Florida and Georgia.
  14. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-21 (2:01 to 12:31)
    Adds the Hispanic defection figure to the swing
    Karl Rove segment on the closing campaign swing: rallies help in deep-red Kansas and Nebraska but not in Michigan or Maine, and rural support has slipped on tariffs and doubled diesel and fertilizer costs. Adds a Fox survey figure on Hispanic defection and the Florida governor's race tightening.
    New angle: In last week's Fox News survey, 31 percent of Hispanic voters preferred the Republican candidate, down about 12 points from 2024.
  15. Start Here, 2026-10-21 (1:32 to 8:15)
    Reads the final-stretch itinerary as a map of GOP worry
    White House correspondent Karen Travers walks through the president's final-stretch itinerary and reads it as a map of Republican worry: Kansas for Roger Marshall, North Carolina for Michael Whatley, and a teased return to Ohio for John Husted. Adds the weekend Georgia and Kentucky stops and the announced Ohio trip.
    New angle: Trump campaigned in Georgia and Kentucky over the weekend and announced he would return to Ohio next week for Husted.
  16. Up First, 2026-10-21 (5:19 to 8:55)
    Reports from Greenville and adds MAGA Inc. spending
    Reports from the Greenville rally, where Trump conceded Roy Cooper will win the Senate seat and tied a Camp Lejeune settlement to Republicans winning Congress. Adds the MAGA Inc. spending figure from its latest FEC filing and the $1.5 billion chip announcement.
    New angle: MAGA Inc. has spent more than $240 million on the midterms since September, per its latest FEC filing.
  17. The NPR Politics Podcast, 2026-10-23 (0:54 to 5:02)
    Adds three states to Trump's red-state tour
    Opens the episode on Trump's red-state travel, adding Nebraska, South Carolina and Kentucky to the itinerary and framing the White House theory as lifting the Republican base floor. Puts a 61 percent disapproval average on the record as the worst of his two terms.
    New angle: Trump's disapproval averages 61 percent, the highest of his two terms.
  18. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-26 (1:33 to 3:06)
    Roundup of the closing week's rallies
    News roundup on the closing week: Johnson's 21-state, 39-district travel, Trump's Port Huron rally Sunday and Obama's Detroit stop Saturday, plus a Minnesota voter on crime and fraud. Adds the Michigan rally as held, not just scheduled.
    New angle: Trump held his Michigan rally in Port Huron on Sunday; Obama campaigned in Detroit the day before.
  19. The Dan Bongino Show, 2026-10-26 (8:05 to 12:32)
    Adds Mississippi to the final-week tour
    Runs through Trump's final-week schedule and adds Mississippi to the list of states on the tour, then pivots to a turnout plea built on Trump's age and the attempts on his life. The schedule detail is the only new item; the rest is rallying.
    New angle: Trump's final-week schedule now includes Mississippi, alongside Texas, Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Montana, Kansas and Michigan.
  20. The Fox News Rundown, 2026-10-28 (12:17 to 15:03)
    Weighs the cost of Trump's 22-state map
    Takes up the cost of the wide map: Trump has been to about 22 states with 12 or 13 to go, and a Josh Holmes tweet argues Kansas and South Carolina spending is eating the chance at a bigger upset. Rogers, Whitlock says, has had the resources he needs.
    New angle: Trump has visited about 22 states this cycle, with 12 or 13 more to go.
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