Trump continues midterm campaign blitz in North Carolina – US politics live

Donald Trump has announced $8bn worth of economic aid for farmers hit by soaring diesel prices, as polling shows Republicans on course for a midterms drubbing.

The president’s announcement came 15 days before a midterm election dominated by anger over rising fuel costs caused by the US war on Iran.

Farmers in Kansas, a heavily agricultural state, have been hit hard by the consequences of the Iran war. A gallon of diesel costs nearly $6, nearly double from this time a year ago.

In August, the president upset cattle ranchers with a plan to reduce import tariffs to lower the price of beef and with aggressive immigration raids that prompted some agricultural workers to stay at home.

Trump’s announcement came during a rally in Kansas on Monday night as Republicans faced mounting anger over the cost of living and the ongoing war in Iran. As my colleague David Smith wrote last night: “The fact that Donald Trump was here at all said more about a looming electoral disaster facing his Republican party next month than anything contained in his dark and discursive 98-minute stump speech.”

Trump seemed to acknowledge there was a risk Democrats could win in the state, where no Democrat has won a US Senate seat since 1932. As he stumped for first-term senator Roger Marshall, the president told the crowd: “You’re really sort of – I hate to say it – you’re sort of tending toward the purple,” the president told about 5,000 supporters in a multipurpose arena outside Wichita, acknowledging that Kansas already has a Democratic governor in Laura Kelly. “That’s why I have to be sure that we get this guy.”

Welcome to the US politics live blog! I’m Shrai Popat and I’ll be bringing you the latest lines from Washington and beyond.

We start today with Donald Trump’s upcoming to trip to Greenville, North Carolina – where he’ll stump for Michael Whatley, the Republican nominee for US Senate, facing an uphill battle against Roy Cooper, the state’s former Democratic governor who has consistently led Whatley in the polls for the open seat.

North Carolina is the president’s second stop in a seven-day campaign blitz across a number of states that he won in 2024. It’s all to drum up support for Republican candidates on the ballot ahead of the midterms – now just two weeks away.

However, earlier this month, the Senate’s top GOP Super Pac announced it pulled a $71m ad spend in North Carolina, in order to funnel more money into the Kansas race – a sign that Republicans’ hopes to hold on to the Tar Heel state might be dwindling.

On Monday, Trump rallied in Kansas – as the Senate competition there becomes increasingly tight.