2026-10-05T14:50:04.943Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/05/politics/donald-trump-nebraska-red-state-blitz
内布拉斯加州格兰德岛——
上一位在任总统访问这座位于全美最可靠共和党州中部的第四大城市格兰德岛时，中期选举仅剩两天。
那是2006年11月5日，乔治·W·布什正在红州的红城市巡回拉票，希望阻止不可避免的局面出现：一股浪潮将共和党对国会参众两院的控制权夺走，使其在任期最后两年沦为在野党。
如今，唐纳德·特朗普总统正面临中期选举的考验。
随着特朗普将于周一前往这个两年前以20个百分点优势拿下的州，他正在红州十月闪电拉票的最新一站寻找安全港湾，并为支持者打气。
白宫的行程安排道出了秋季竞选的最后阶段几乎完全在特朗普的票仓展开。在为期一周的行程中，总统从得克萨斯州前往俄克拉荷马州、阿拉巴马州、俄亥俄州，再到内布拉斯加州，最后返回得克萨斯州——所有这些州他都以两位数优势获胜——这凸显出共和党如今处于守势，而他正紧急召集支持者为共和党助选。
“只管出来投票，”特朗普在俄亥俄州的一场周末集会上对民众说，“只要你们这么做，我们就会赢，而且会大胜。我们会把他们打得落花流水。”
不管有没有粗俗言论，特朗普近一年来一直在透露他对中期选举的担忧。他罕见地进行了自我反思，意识到所有总统都会面临同样的挑战：国会控制权的争夺几乎总是会给执政党带来惩罚。
“不管你是不是一位伟大的总统，不管是共和党还是民主党，在中期选举中表现都不会好，”特朗普周五晚间在阿拉巴马州莫比尔的一场活动中感叹道，“我不知道为什么，没人能解释清楚。”
目前仍不清楚，特朗普突然展开的竞选攻势，再加上共和党在几乎所有摇摆州的显著资金优势，能否帮助共和党如今避免同样的命运。民主党人也越来越担心自己在全国范围内的电视广告支出不及对手。
2018年特朗普首次参加中期选举时，共和党失去了众议院席位，但勉强扩大了在参议院的优势。但如今经济形势黯淡得多，且伊朗战争持续不休，就连许多共和党人都对11月的选举感到悲观。
“这是一场五级火警，”特朗普最近到访过的一个州的共和党国会议员告诉CNN，他要求匿名以免疏远白宫，“我们一直都欢迎总统到访，但我不知道他是否了解这里民众的感受。”
当特朗普抵达格兰德岛的内布拉斯加州博览会场地时，他将踏入该州第三国会选区——2024年他在此赢得了76%的选票。这是内布拉斯加州最倾向共和党的地区，覆盖该州93个县中的80个，养牛和农业是当地经济的命脉。
总统不会访问内布拉斯加州另外两个国会选区，这两个选区竞争激烈，尤其是第二国会选区，该选区将填补即将退休的众议员唐·培根的席位。第二选区包括奥马哈市，有时被称为“蓝点”，是全国仅有的三个特朗普2024年失利但由共和党议员代表的选区之一。
特朗普的集会旨在为共和党参议员皮特·里基茨提供助力，里基茨的对手是前工会领袖、独立候选人丹·奥斯本。这是共和党为保住参议院多数席位而陷入焦虑的竞争激烈的竞选之一，随着摇摆选区地图扩大，共和党已没有犯错空间。
“毫无疑问，高油价给每个内布拉斯加家庭的预算都带来了压力，”里基茨告诉CNN，并补充说他欢迎总统到访，“这是我在全州走访时听到的最常见的问题之一。”
奥斯本在2024年以不到7个百分点的差距输给共和党参议员黛比·费希尔后，再次参选。这一次，民主党没有推出候选人，该党有意退选，希望击败里基茨。
“和2024年竞选时最大的不同在于伊朗战争和飙升的成本，”奥斯本告诉CNN，“在每一次市政厅活动中，人们最先提到的通常都是生活成本问题。这太难了。”
总统今年8月做出的决定，允许以低关税向美国进口最多30万吨牛肉，也遭到了内布拉斯加州养牛户的强烈反对。
特朗普称这项政策旨在降低杂货店的牛肉价格，但该政策也在爱荷华州、堪萨斯州和德克萨斯州——另外四个牛肉产量排名前四的州——引发了争议。这四个州都有竞争激烈的参议院选举，且都是特朗普三次获胜的州。
特朗普是否会提及此事将是该地区关注的焦点。
“这个收获季，柴油价格几乎翻倍，出口市场枯竭，乡村医院举步维艰，毫无意义的关税仍在掏空我们的钱包，特朗普与其忙着兑现对所有内布拉斯加人的承诺，不如做好本职工作，”内布拉斯加州民主党主席简·克莱布说道。
“一场我们正在经历的灾难”
在周末的竞选活动中，特朗普继续表现出他对经济的描述与许多美国人的实际感受脱节。他没有提及物价上涨，反而称：“在世界上任何地方都最热的环境下，这是美国的黄金时代。”
他正努力将11月的选举塑造成与民主党形成鲜明对比的选择，而非对他本人及其政府政策的全民公投。
这与他首届任期内2018年中期选举的竞选行程模式如出一辙：前往满是崇拜者的红州，希望通过激怒他的反对者来最大限度地减少政治伤害。
“如果民主党获胜，你们将迎来1929年式的大萧条，”特朗普周六晚间在俄亥俄州的集会上对民众说，“我们将遭遇一场灾难。”
拥有5.3万人口的格兰德岛民众对他的到访期待高涨。2024年特朗普以37个百分点的优势拿下了包括该市在内的霍尔县。当地新闻报道回顾了2006年空军一号降落中内布拉斯加地区机场的情景。在那次演讲中，布什警告共和党人不要陷入悲观论调。
“我相信你们听到了和我一样的预测，”布什说，“那些预言家在内布拉斯加州民众投票前就已经敲定了选举结果。”
在特朗普集会开始对现代政治产生影响的十年前，布什在那次竞选的最后四天也在蒙大拿州、内华达州、密苏里州、爱荷华州、科罗拉多州、堪萨斯州、佛罗里达州和阿肯色州巡回拉票。
当时共和党掌控了内布拉斯加州的所有三个众议院席位。但他们最终在中期选举中失去了国会多数席位——众议院31个席位，参议院6个席位——布什后来 famously 将那次选举描述为“一记重击”。
‘A five-alarm fire’ confronts President Trump in red-state October blitz
2026-10-05T14:50:04.943Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/05/politics/donald-trump-nebraska-red-state-blitz
Grand Island, Nebraska—
The midterm elections were just two days away the last time a sitting president visited Grand Island, the fourth-largest city in the middle of one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states.
It was November 5, 2006, and George W. Bush was barnstorming red cities in red states in hopes of staving off what would become the inevitable: a wave wiping away Republican control of the House and Senate for the final two years of his term.
Now, President Donald Trump is facing the midterm music.
As Trump heads here on Monday, to a state he won by 20 points two years ago, he is looking for a safe harbor – and to fire up friendly faces – in the latest stop on his red-state October blitz.
The White House itinerary tells the story of how the final chapter of the fall campaign is playing out almost entirely in Trump country. In a weeklong stretch, the president’s travels from Texas to Oklahoma to Alabama to Ohio to Nebraska and back to Texas — all states he carried by double digits — underscore the degree to which Republicans are on defense as he urgently rallies supporters to come to his party’s aid.
“Just get out and vote,” Trump told a weekend crowd in Ohio. “If you do that, we’re going to win and we’re going to win big. And we’re going to shove it up their ass.”
With or without vulgarities, Trump has been telegraphing his worry about the midterm campaign for the last year. It’s a rare bout of self-reflection that he faces the same challenges all presidents do, with the fight for control of Congress nearly always delivering a comeuppance to the party in power.
“Whether you have a great president or not, Republican or Democrat, they don’t do well in the midterms,” Trump lamented Friday night at a stop in Mobile, Alabama. “I don’t know why. Nobody’s explained it.”
It’s still an open question whether Trump’s sudden campaign spree, along with significant GOP financial advantages in nearly every battleground state, will help Republicans avoid a similar fate now. Democratic anxieties are also rising about being outspent in TV ads across the map.
In 2018, during Trump’s first midterm election, Republicans lost the House but narrowly expanded their grip on the Senate. But with a far bleaker economic picture and a lingering war in Iran, even many Republicans are pessimistic about November.
“This is a five-alarm fire,” a GOP member of Congress from a state Trump visited recently told CNN, asking to not be identified to avoid alienating the White House. “We always welcome the president, but I don’t know if he’s aware of the feelings out here.”
When Trump arrives at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Grand Island, he will be stepping into the state’s 3rd Congressional District, which he won with 76% of the vote in 2024. It’s the most Republican part of Nebraska, covering 80 of the state’s 93 counties, where cattle ranching and farming is the lifeblood of the economy.
The president is not visiting the two other congressional districts in Nebraska, which are highly competitive, particularly the 2nd District to fill the seat of retiring Rep. Don Bacon. The 2nd – which includes Omaha and is sometimes known as the “blue dot” – is one of only three districts in the country Trump lost in 2024 that is represented by a Republican.
Trump’s rally is intended to offer a boost to Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is facing a challenge from Dan Osborn, a former union leader and independent candidate. It is among the competitive races stirring anxiety among Republicans in their effort to hold their Senate majority, where there is no margin for error as the battleground map expands.
“There’s no doubt that high fuel prices put a strain on the budgets for every Nebraska family,” Ricketts told CNN, adding that he welcomes the president’s visit. “That’s one of the things I hear when I travel the state.”
Osborn is running again two years after losing by fewer than 7 percentage points to GOP Sen. Deb Fischer. This time, he faces no Democratic opposition, with the party intentionally standing down in hopes of defeating Ricketts.
“The significant difference now between when I was campaigning in 2024 is the war in Iran and costs that are skyrocketing,” Osborn told CNN. “With every single town hall, that’s usually the first thing that gets brought up is the cost of living. It’s tough.”
The president’s August decision to allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported into the United States with lower tariffs was also met with fierce opposition from Nebraska cattle growers.
The policy, which Trump said was designed to bring down the cost of beef in the grocery store, has also sparked controversy in Iowa, Kansas and Texas, the rest of the top four beef-producing states. All four have competitive Senate races in states Trump won three times.
Whether Trump addresses the matter will be closely watched in the region.
“This harvest season, with diesel nearly doubled, export markets drying up, rural hospitals struggling, and senseless tariffs still hitting our pockets, Trump would be better served doing his actual job instead of breaking every promise he made to Nebraskans,” said Jane Kleeb, chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party.
‘A disaster on our hands’
In his weekend campaign stops, Trump continued to exhibit a disconnect between how he describes the economy and how many Americans experience it. He made no mention of rising costs but said: “With the hottest country anywhere in the world, it’s the golden age of America.”
He is striving to make the November election a contrast with Democrats rather than a referendum on him and the administration’s policies.
It follows a familiar pattern with his 2018 campaign travel in the midterm election of his first term: visiting red states filled with admirers, hoping to minimize political harm by firing up his detractors.
“If the Democrats win, you will end up in a 1929-style Great Depression,” Trump told a crowd in Ohio on Saturday night. “We will have a disaster on our hands.”
Excitement was building in Grand Island, a city of 53,000, for his arrival. Trump won Hall County, which includes the city, by 37 points in 2024. Local news accounts recalled the last time Air Force One landed at Central Nebraska Regional Airport in 2006. In that speech, Bush warned Republicans against lapsing into a gloom-and-doom mindset.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the same predictions I’ve heard,” Bush said. “The prognosticators have already decided the outcome of this election before the good people of Nebraska have voted.”
A decade before Trump rallies began leaving their mark on modern-day politics, Bush spent the spent the final four days of that campaign also barnstorming through Montana, Nevada, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Florida and Arkansas.
Republicans held all three House seats in Nebraska then. But they went on to lose their congressional majorities – 31 seats in the House and six in the Senate – in a midterm election season Bush famously described afterward as “a thumping.”
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