Trump Campaigns in Mississippi and Texas With Football Stars in Final Week Before Midterms

President Trump held a rally in Mississippi on Monday night and is scheduled to campaign in Texas on Tuesday, one week before the midterm elections, with stops in South Carolina and Iowa planned later in the week. In Texas, he will appear with three football stars, according to Axios, as Republicans try to turn out voters in the final days. The Texas visit is meant to boost Ken Paxton in a highly competitive Senate race. Axios reported that Trump is trying to mobilize lower-propensity voters who helped return him to the White House in 2024 but who may be less inclined to vote when he is not on the ballot.

Left-leaning outlets frame the story differently from each other. CBS News gives a schedule-driven overview of the final push, listing Mississippi on Monday, Texas on Tuesday, and South Carolina and Iowa later in the week, with reporting credited to Weijia Jiang and Ed O'Keefe. MS NOW focuses on Texas, saying Trump is relying on former football stars to energize the Republican base for Paxton in the Senate contest. Neither excerpt names the players or discusses voter propensity. Axios, the alternative source, shares the football angle and Texas focus but presents it as a scoop and adds the strategic reasoning about lower-propensity voters from 2024, along with the detail that three football stars will join Trump. Both left and alternative coverage agree on the timing, the Tuesday Texas visit and the aim of turning out Republican voters. They differ in scope: CBS looks at the whole itinerary, while MS NOW and Axios concentrate on the Texas sports-themed event. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had.