Trump closes Iowa midterm push in Dubuque, predicts 'a much bigger win on Tuesday'

REAL DUBUQUE NEWS (RDN) DUBUQUE: President Donald Trump brought his closing midterm argument to the Five Flags Center on Sunday, Nov. 1, speaking for roughly two hours before heading to Kansas for a second rally, according to the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal. The Dubuque stop, restored to the schedule Oct. 30 after a brief cancellation, was Trump's second Iowa rally in the closing stretch, following an Oct. 22 rally in Sioux City. Doors opened at 10:30 a.m., the program began at 12:30 p.m., and campaign registration pages listed Trump's remarks for 3 p.m. CT after the RNC moved the start from 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Iowa Senate race was front and center. Trump called Republican nominee Ashley Hinson "phenomenal" and "outstanding," saying she would be "one of our best," the Des Moines Register reported, then veered into a riff on her weight that he acknowledged at the outset might be "inappropriate": "I knew Ashley for a long time, and she was a little bit heavier," adding that "she knew the weight was on her, literally," and that she lost it "the old-fashioned way," without medication. Hinson, who warmed up the crowd before Trump took the stage, warned that a win for Democrat Josh Turek would mean, "Chuck Schumer is in charge of the U.S. Senate." Polling averages have Hinson and Turek in a statistical tie, KCAU reported. Trump pitched the whole GOP ticket. He touted the Iowa Hawkeyes' shutout football win over Wisconsin and promised, "We're going to have a much bigger win on Tuesday." House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared onstage and told the crowd, "You can dismiss the polls. The polls are wrong all around the country." Trump warned against believing "moderate" Democrats, saying, "A vote for any Democrat anywhere in the country is a vote to put a deranged group of extremists into power, and it could really hurt us, and we're not going to let anything hurt us," adding, "Because we have the greatest country right now." As he crossed two hours on stage, he told the crowd, "I think we're going to have a tremendous victory on Tuesday." Beyond Iowa, Trump waded into the Michigan Senate race, praising Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens for endorsing Republican nominee Mike Rogers, calling the endorsement "brave," and urging Stevens to join the Republican Party, USA Today reported. He said Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed "would destroy our country." He defended Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, whose rally he was headed to next, and joked that Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley was superior to him because of his long-lasting marriage, the Journal reported. The speech was briefly interrupted at the beginning by protesters, whom Trump said without evidence were paid agitators. KCRG reported Trump used the Dubuque stop to press Republicans to turn out, defend Iowa's first-in-the-nation political status, highlight a major steel-mill project, address farmers and high prices, and make the case for keeping the House and Senate. The races are tight. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists the gubernatorial race and two of Iowa's four House seats as lean Democratic, with the Senate race and one other House seat as toss-ups, the Journal reported. Earlier Sunday, the Iowa Democratic Party held a news conference in Des Moines backing Turek, with former Iowa Senate president Pam Jochum saying Hinson holds office to enrich herself. Also today in Dubuque: organizers planned a community demonstration at Washington Park, 700 Locust Street, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., billed as a public demonstration and Get Out The Vote rally with no formal speaker program. The Dubuque County Democrats, Indivisible Dubuque County and the Dubuque Visibility Brigade organized the event, according to the organizers' event page.