Trump campaigns for Hyde-Smith in Corinth, Miss., eight days before the election

By Julian Westerly

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump travels to Corinth, Miss., on Monday to campaign for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, adding a Deep South stop to a closing run of midterm rallies that he says has improved Republicans’ prospects eight days before the Nov. 3 election.

Trump is scheduled to hold a rally at Crossroads Arena at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. local) after a day of Oval Office meetings, according to the White House schedule compiled by Roll Call’s Factba.se. The schedule lists closed-press policy meetings at 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., a 1:30 p.m. meeting with the U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco, and a 2:15 p.m. call time for the travel pool at Joint Base Andrews. Charles Kushner is the ambassador, according to the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that the rallies are moving voters. “I hear that we’ve turned the whole thing around,” he said before boarding Air Force One for Michigan, according to a Factba.se transcript. “For whatever reason, presidents don’t win, almost never, the midterms. And I think we’ve really turned it around. And, you know, I think the rallies have turned it, frankly, just to be honest.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the trip.

A first for Alcorn County

The visit is the first by a sitting president to Alcorn County since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, WTVA reported. As many as 7,500 people could attend at the arena and surrounding grounds. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. local time, the program begins at 4:30 p.m., and Trump is expected on stage around 6 p.m., the station reported. The event is RSVP only, through the Republican National Committee.

Corinth Mayor Ralph Dance asked residents and visitors to expect delays. “We want things to look very presentable for when our president comes in,” he told the station.

The race

Hyde-Smith, who was appointed in 2018 and won a special election that year and a full term in 2020, is seeking a second full term against Democrat Scott Colom, a district attorney in north Mississippi, and independent Ty Pinkins, a lawyer. Trump endorsed her on March 26, 2025, calling her “100% MAGA,” Mississippi Today reported. He campaigned for her in Tupelo and Biloxi in 2018.

A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate race in Mississippi since 1982, and Trump carried the state by about 23 points in 2024, Mississippi Today reported. Most national forecasters rate the race solid or likely Republican.

Hyde-Smith said last week that she was confident. “We feel very good about this,” she told reporters in Vicksburg. “I’m very proud of the record I have to run on.” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he believes she still leads. “This is very much a Republican state at the federal level,” Wicker told Mississippi Today.

A Change Research poll of 842 likely voters taken Oct. 21-22 had Hyde-Smith at 43%, Colom at 40% and Pinkins at 6%, with 9% undecided. The poll aggregator that lists it notes that the firm mostly works for Democrats.

Colom said in a statement last week that “Hyde-Smith is scared and that’s why she’s sending Donald Trump down here,” and challenged Trump to a debate, Mississippi Today reported.

National Democrats have put money and surrogates into the race. Former Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to campaign with Colom in Columbus last Thursday, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was slated for the Gulf Coast, and former President Barack Obama has endorsed Colom. Groups backing Colom or opposing Hyde-Smith had reported about $7.6 million in independent expenditures this cycle, compared with about $516,000 by groups backing Hyde-Smith, according to an Inquisitor tally of Federal Election Commission filings published Oct. 22. Senate Majority PAC has since announced a $1.2 million ad buy.

Sunday’s remarks

Trump took questions on foreign policy on Sunday before leaving for Port Huron, Mich. On Russia and Ukraine, he said three-way talks would happen “very soon” and that “I think they both want to make a deal,” according to a White House pool report. He said special envoy Steve Witkoff’s trip to Moscow last week dealt with the war and with the release of an American prisoner. “I got him back by asking Vladimir Putin to have him back,” Trump said, adding that he “gave nothing in return.”

Asked whether strikes on Iran were coming, Trump said, “Would I tell you that? The answer is no, there will not be a strike today.” He said the government has “very advanced sets of intelligence on Iran,” some of it declassified.

The rest of the week

After Corinth, the schedule lists rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday; Chillicothe, Ohio, on Wednesday; and Daytona Beach, Fla., on Friday. Trump rallied Sunday in Port Huron for Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers, and on Saturday in Perry, Ga.

The Inquisitor asked the White House, the Hyde-Smith and Colom campaigns and the Mississippi Republican and Democratic parties for comment.