Trump teases future presidential announcement on eve of midterms

Donald Trump made his strongest suggestion yet that he will soon launch a third bid for the White House in 2024, telling a crowd of supporters in Ohio on Monday night that he would make a “very big announcement” on November 15.

Speaking at a rally in Ohio on the eve of midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the next two years, Trump said: “We want nothing to detract from the importance of tomorrow.” But he added that his “announcement” would come one week after the midterms, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

“This incredible journey that we are on together has only just begun,” Trump, 76, said.

Trump’s comments stoked speculation about whether he is headed for a rematch against the incumbent president, Joe Biden, in 2024. Biden, who will turn 80 later this month, has not formally said he will seek re-election in 2024. But Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to him, said at an event in Washington last week that initial conversations about a future campaign were under way.

Trump has for months flirted with another run at the White House. But many of his closest advisers and other senior figures in the Republican party have urged him to delay any formal announcement until after the midterms.

Opinion polls suggest Republicans are on course to regain control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, while non-partisan analysts see the Senate as a “toss-up” that is likely to come down to a handful of races in crucial swing states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada.

On Monday night, Trump shared the stage in Ohio with JD Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author who became the Republican nominee for the Senate in the state with Trump’s endorsement. Trump won Ohio by an eight-point margin over Biden in 2020, but the latest opinion polls show Vance locked in a much tighter race with his Democratic opponent, congressman Tim Ryan.

Biden has for months largely shied away from the campaign trail amid persistently low approval ratings. But in the final stretch of campaigning he has travelled the country in support of a handful of congressional candidates and Democrats running for governor, including a stop in Pennsylvania with former president Barack Obama on Saturday. On Sunday, he went to New York, where he campaigned with the incumbent Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, who is facing an unexpectedly tough challenger in Republican congressman Lee Zeldin.

On Monday night, Biden rounded out his campaign travels in another Democratic stronghold, Maryland, where polls suggest former investment banker Wes Moore is the odds-on favourite to be elected governor.

Returning to the White House after the rally, Biden told reporters he was feeling “optimistic”, adding: “But I’m always optimistic.”

Asked whether Democrats could hold on to the reins of the House of Representatives, the president said: “I think it’s going to be tough but I think we can. I think we’ll win the Senate. I think the House is tougher.”