Trump to hold campaign rally in Florida on Halloween

President Trump will head to Florida for a campaign rally on Halloween in hopes of providing a final boost for Republicans locked in tight races for Senate and governor, the Trump campaign announced Wednesday.

The president will hold a rally on Oct. 31 at the Hertz Arena in Fort Myers, Fla. It will be the 37th time Trump has put on a rally in the state since launching his presidential campaign in 2015, and the first such event there since late July.  

Trump will likely be joined by gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis (R), who is trailing Democrat Andrew Gillum by a narrow margin in recent polls. Trump has endorsed DeSantis, who has closely aligned himself with the president in ads and on the campaign trail.

{mosads}A RealClearPolitics average of polls in the race shows Gillum with a 5.8 percentage-point lead.

While the president is expected to urge supporters to vote for Gov. Rick Scott (R) in his U.S. Senate bid against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), it’s unclear if the governor will attend the rally. 

Scott has appeared at public events with Trump, such as when the president surveyed damage from Hurricane Michael, but did not attend the July campaign rally. 

A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Nelson leading Scott by 3.5 points.

Next week’s Florida rally comes as the president criss-crosses the country in support of Republican candidates before the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

He has in recent weeks traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Montana, Arizona, Nevada and Texas. Trump will be in Wisconsin for a rally on Wednesday night, with events planned for later in the week in North Carolina and Illinois.

Republicans are hoping to stave off Democratic efforts to retake majorities in both chambers of Congress. Democrats must pick up 23 seats in the House to claim the majority, and must gain two seats in the Senate to do the same there.