Trump to Give Closing Midterm Speech at Reflecting Pool Instead of Battleground Rally

President Trump is scheduled to deliver his final pre-election message at 2 p.m. ET today, Nov. 2, at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington. The White House confirmed the event Sunday, hours after Trump floated it to reporters in Iowa. "We might hold it tomorrow or something," he said. It would "show how beautiful it is."

The choice is unusual. Trump spent the last month crisscrossing the country for more than 25 rallies. He ended Sunday in Iowa and Kansas, and wrote that Kansas was "my last stop." Instead of a final turnout push in a swing state, he will spend election eve at one of his own construction projects. The White House says he will also join nine tele-rallies during the day.

The Reflecting Pool

The project is a fair test of the "get it done fast" pitch. In April, Trump said he would change the pool's color and use contractors he knew to finish in days for about $1.5 million, before Independence Day. The work wrapped up nearly three months behind schedule. The budget ballooned to more than 10 times his early estimate.

The pool reopened June 9 and closed again after the July 4 celebrations because of damage. It reopened Oct. 29. Crews applied an industrial-grade swimming pool coating over the original gray stone bottom. Trump calls the color "American flag blue."

Trump's defense is simple. "It's been finished. It was vandalized badly. We have cameras all over the place now for the vandals," he told reporters Sunday. "It looks beautiful. Hasn't worked since 1922. It's always leaked terribly, and it works really well now."

Critics have taken issue with the process and the money. The Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the Interior Department in May, arguing the blue paint violated federal law. The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks has questioned why National Park Service funds went to these projects instead of urgent repairs in other parks. Trump has said renovations relax him and that he does them quickly without much planning.

The race Trump is trying to hold

The White House message is straightforward. Spokesperson Olivia Wales said Americans can expect "safer streets, lower taxes, secure borders, and energy dominance" with Republicans in control of Congress. Trump told Pod Force One he has "never worked the midterms like I have this one."

The political backdrop is rough for the GOP. Trump enters the final day with a record-low approval rating, according to The Hill. Voter frustration centers on the war in Iran, rising energy prices and the cost of living. Polling leans toward Democrats taking the House. The Senate is less certain.

Democrats would have to flip seats in states Trump carried by double digits in 2024. That has happened five times in midterm elections since 1990, according to AFP. Even a House-only win would give Democrats control of the federal budget and committee gavels for investigations.

Trump has already previewed his response. In an interview with Pod Force One, he said he would become "Mr. Veto" if Democrats take control of Congress, though he added that he will probably make deals with them at some point. In a podcast interview with the New York Post, he said he would issue preemptive pardons to Elon Musk and White House aides, if necessary, to protect them from investigations in a Democratic-led House.

Michigan and the Senate map

The week's biggest surprise came in Michigan. Rep. Haley Stevens, a Democrat who lost the August primary to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday. She had been asked not to join a campaign event with El-Sayed that day, amid a feud over Israel.

El-Sayed has been criticized by some Jewish Democrats in the state. NBC News reports he has refused to accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. He also apologized for comments he made after an attack on a Michigan synagogue earlier this year. Trump praised Stevens. Republicans have branded El-Sayed, who is Muslim, a terrorist, a charge AFP noted in its coverage and Yahoo News described as Islamophobic. Democrats have rallied behind El-Sayed.

El-Sayed's campaign confirmed Monday that it raised over $2.4 million on Sunday, the day Stevens backed Rogers, a single-day record for the campaign, according to CBS News. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Stevens' endorsement a "despicable act."

In Iowa on Sunday, Trump called Democrats "extreme and dangerous radicals" who will "steal your wealth" and let in migrants to "ransack, rape and plunder." Vance, at a New York rally for congressional candidate Anthony Constantino, cast Democrat Blake Gendebien as "Blake Gende-Biden" and said Democrats want voters to send a message that "the communists can win." He also used a vulgar insult on stage, then told parents in the crowd not to talk like the vice president.

Court fights before Tuesday

Two legal fights are live heading into the vote.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on an emergency basis to make California set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 people on a government list of suspected noncitizens. A federal appeals court declined Friday to order that. Lower courts have so far not required the segregation.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer called it a "modest remedy" to keep non-citizen ballots from diluting valid votes. "Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back," he wrote. The California secretary of state's office says more than 6 million mail ballots had been returned statewide as of Sunday.

In Alaska, a federal judge dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that sought to block certification of the Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan lost. The suit centered on the presence of a second candidate, retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan, on the ballot. Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign has been accused of recruiting him as a spoiler. She has denied it.

Polls open Tuesday, Nov. 3. The Supreme Court's response to the California request is pending.