Midterm Race: Trump and Obama target defensive states

President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama held rallies on Wednesday in states where their parties are defending key seats. Trump spoke in Chillicothe, Ohio, while Obama addressed a crowd in suburban Atlanta. Both leaders aimed to energize voters before the midterms next week.

Trump has held more than 20 rallies this month. He is focusing on states he won by large margins two years ago. The strategy reflects a defensive posture for the Republican Party. The president is also packing his schedule with travel to South Carolina, Florida, Kansas, and Iowa in the coming days.

"If you can get out to vote," Trump told the crowd in Ohio, "we're going to have a tremendous victory." He urged his base to turn out despite record fuel prices and rising costs. He also mentioned the ongoing war in Iran as a factor affecting voters.

Obama is acting as a foil to the current administration. He criticized Trump for spending time on White House renovations. He said Trump is "spending time supergluing gold medallions to the mantel in the Oval Office." Obama appeared with Keisha Lance Bottoms and Sen. Jon Ossoff. Bottoms could become the first Black woman elected governor in the United States.

"Everywhere you go, it feels like change is in the air," Obama said. He responded to backlash over his recent comment that Trump's gilded decor looked like "Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory." He said, "These are not serious people. They don't have solutions to actual problems."

Trump is also using the courts to shape the election. He directed his Department of Justice to file a preemptive lawsuit in Alaska. The suit contests the outcome of the Senate race if Democrat Mary Peltola wins. A second candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan is on the ballot. Trump called the situation "voter fraud at the highest level."

Peltola's campaign said it has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Trump warned Peltola she could face prosecution. He made the comments while boarding Air Force One to fly to Ohio.

In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers. Trump has intensified his anti-Muslim rhetoric against El-Sayed. El-Sayed told a crowd in Wyandotte, "They want to point to me and my name. They're doing this because they're trying to distract us." He said Michiganders care more about what people pray for than how they pray.

Republicans argue El-Sayed is antisemitic, a claim he denies. Sen. Ted Cruz campaigned with Rogers in Birmingham. Cruz said antisemitism is "a poison that is ripping the country apart." He said the Democratic Party is being taken over by "self-proclaimed communists and Islamists."

Rep. Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed narrowly defeated in the primary, endorsed him but said her fiance plans to back Rogers. Stevens told CNN, "Like a households across America, we're a household divided." She urged El-Sayed to disavow an ad by Rebellion PAC that linked U.S. support for Israel with high grocery prices. El-Sayed said the ad "has nothing to do with our campaign."