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This week on the Hill: Trump, Obama lead final push before Election Day It’s the final full week before Election Day, and candidates are ramping up their campaigns with rallies, high-profile surrogates and a last round of debates. After a week of daily campaign events across the United States, President Trump is set to visit Corinth, Miss., on Monday, in support of Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.). He will also be holding two rallies Tuesday in Texas, where he is expected to campaign for candidates including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). On Wednesday, the president will travel to Chillicothe, Ohio. Former President Obama is also hitting the campaign trail, headlining a “United for Georgia” rally in Atlanta on Wednesday to support Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) reelection bid and urge voters to turn out on Election Day. He held two rallies Saturday, one in Ohio and the other in Michigan. Former Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to join the push as well. The NAACP announced that Harris will partner with the group’s president and CEO, Derrick Johnson, for civic engagement events in Milwaukee and Atlanta. The final stretch will also feature a slate of debates. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) and Democratic challenger Paige Cognetti are expected to face off Thursday in a debate hosted by WVIA News. In New Hampshire, Republican John Sununu and Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) are scheduled to debate Wednesday in an event hosted by WMUR-TV. What you can expect this week: - Trump to stump for GOP candidates: The president is making a last-minute effort to boost Republican momentum as voter frustration over the economy and the Iran war take over this election cycle. - Obama to hit up rally in Georgia: The former president will headline the event with Ossoff and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms on Wednesday. - Harris to encourage voters to turn out: Harris’s role in the 2026 midterms comes as there’s speculation she will launch a 2028 presidential bid. - Challengers to face off in final debates: Bresnahan and Cognetti are running to represent Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, while Pappas and Sununu are vying for the open New Hampshire Senate seat. GOP anxiety on full display as Trump barnstorms Trump’s appearances across Mississippi, Texas and Ohio come as Republicans have been neck and neck, or in some cases, trailing their Democratic opponents in key races. Democratic candidate James Talarico, for instance, is in a dead heat with Paxton for the Senate in Texas, according to a recent survey from Emerson College Polling and The Hill. The survey found that 48 percent of respondents would back Talarico, while 46 percent said they would back Paxton, a result within the poll’s margin of error. Another 5 percent of respondents were undecided, and 1 percent picked Libertarian Ted Brown. “Since August, Talarico’s support has slowly inched up by about a point each month, from 46% to 48%, while Paxton has hovered between 46% and 47%,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said. In Ohio, Sen. Jon Husted (R) is locked in a toss-up race against former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to hold onto his Senate seat, while Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton are locked in a similarly tight race for the governor’s mansion. Democrats have signaled they are feeling increasingly optimistic about both races. Ramaswamy, in particular, has come under scrutiny after he confirmed to reporters last week his campaign was behind an attack ad featuring Acton’s estranged, biological mother Donna Arthur, who insinuated her daughter has mental health issues. Several Republicans quickly denounced Ramaswamy’s ad, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the Ohio governor’s race from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat.” And in Mississippi, Hyde-Smith is facing an unexpectedly tough contest against Democrat Scott Colom. The seat is rated as likely Republican by the Cook Political Report, but Democrats are still hoping to flip it as their momentum grows in the midterms. Obama campaigns for Ossoff, Bottoms in Georgia The former president isn’t done with politics. Obama will be making his way to Atlanta, where he is expected to stump for Ossoff and Bottoms on Wednesday. The Cook Political Report rates the Georgia governor’s race as a “toss-up” and the Senate race as “likely” Democratic. A poll from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the University of Georgia reported that 48 percent of respondents supported Ossoff’s reelection bid, 40 percent backed his Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, and 12 percent were undecided. Ossoff, the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state Trump handily won in 2024, is running for his second term following a high-profile 2020 runoff election. He faced off against Collins earlier this month in a debate; they clashed on the Jeffrey Epstein files, Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran. In the gubernatorial race, 46 percent of poll respondents backed Republican Rick Jackson, 45 percent supported Bottoms and 8 percent remained undecided. Jackson’s lead is within the poll’s margin of error, meaning the candidates are essentially deadlocked. Harris to headline civic engagement events with the NAACP Harris is slated to join NAACP’s Johnson to headline several events aimed at driving up turnout in the 2026 midterms, including one in Wisconsin on Monday and another in Atlanta on Thursday. “The NAACP has been at the forefront of protecting voting rights and ensuring our communities have a voice in our democracy,” Johnson said in a press release. “Our work doesn’t begin or end on Election Day. From voter education to grassroots organizing, we remain committed to building informed, engaged communities. We look forward to continuing that work alongside Vice President Harris in Milwaukee and Atlanta.” Harris’s appearances come as she has said she “might” run for president in 2028. Many see her as a top contender to serve as Democrats’ nominee, recent polls suggest. Harris has also embarked on a campaign blitz in October before Election Day with other stops in Mississippi and New Hampshire, according to her office. Republicans and Democrats face off in House and Senate debates Sununu and Pappas are expected to debate Wednesday. A recent New Hampshire Institute of Politics survey, commissioned by AARP, found the Democrat holds a 7-point advantage over his Republican opponent among likely voters in the state. The candidates are competing in the November race for the open seat to replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Sununu served in both chambers of Congress for more than a decade before he lost his Senate seat to Shaheen in 2008. His father is John H. Sununu, and his brother is Chris Sununu — both of whom served as governors of New Hampshire. Pappas has represented the Granite State in the House since 2019, and he has been part of the Problem Solvers Caucus since 2023. The state has not elected a Republican senator in more than a decade, although the GOP has controlled the state’s governor’s mansion since 2017. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, Bresnahan and Cognetti are expected to spar Thursday. The Cook Political Report has rated Bresnahan’s seat as a toss-up. Cognetti, who has served as the mayor of Scranton, Pa., since 2020, engaged in a candidate forum last week with Bresnahan, where the two discussed childcare, boosting small businesses, immigration and other pressing issues. Julia Mueller, Julia Manchester, Sarah Davis and Mira Bhakta contributed to this report. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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