Trump heads to Mississippi to shore up GOP Senate seat

President Donald Trump rallied supporters in Corinth, Mississippi on Monday to boost Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Hyde-Smith is locked in a harder-than-expected race against Democrat Scott Colom, a local prosecutor. "I'm here because Cindy's doing great, but I just got to make sure. I can't take a chance," Trump told the crowd, his voice hoarse. From the stage, he called Colom a "Marxist radical" and a "fake."

Colom attended the rally and spoke beforehand about meeting voters. "They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they're going through," Colom said.

Trump carried Mississippi in 2024, and the state has not elected a Democratic senator since 1947. Hyde-Smith is seeking her second full term. The Senate Democrats' super PAC has put $1.2 million into the contest.

The Mississippi stop opens a week of rallies that include Texas, South Carolina, Iowa and a Saturday event in Salina, Kansas. Vice President JD Vance appeared in Topeka, Kansas, for Sen. Roger Marshall, who faces Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton in a close race. Democrats have not won a Kansas Senate race since 1932.

More than 30 million voters had cast ballots as of Monday, according to data gathered by The Associated Press from election administrators. Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Wisconsin with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who faces Rep. Tom Tiffany in the governor's race.

In Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's campaign disowned an ad from Rebellion PAC that ties grocery prices to U.S. support for Israel. "This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign," spokesperson Roxie Richner said in a statement. Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, wrote on X that winning Michigan "is not by blaming the high costs of our goods on the only Jewish homeland in the world."

Sen. Tim Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that GOP candidates are "closing very strongly" in races across the country. In New York, Rep. Mike Lawler, in a close race with Democrat Cait Conley in the northern suburbs of New York City, worked a McDonald's drive-thru.