Trump’s Iowa Rally Is About More Than the Midterms

Former President Donald J. Trump opens up his final swing of midterm campaign rallies on Thursday night in Iowa, targeting one of the most conservative regions of the state to promote a pair of Republican candidates who, polls show, are overwhelming favorites to win re-election.

But the stop in Iowa is as much about the race that starts when voting concludes on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump has been increasingly eager to announce a third bid for the White House formally, and Iowa holds outsize importance both in the early nominating process and, for the past several presidential cycles, as a secondary battleground during the general election.

Still, Mr. Trump is expected to devote much of his speech tonight to the consequences of the midterm elections. He previewed his closing message on Wednesday during a conference call with Arizona Republican voters and candidates in which he described America as a nation in decline and Democrats as the leading cause.

“We have to basically, in a nutshell, save our country,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump came very close to offering himself as a solution at a recent rally in Texas, where he again repeated the lie that he won in 2020, adding, “In order to make our country successful, safe and glorious again, I will probably have to do it again.”

Thursday night’s rally will be Mr. Trump’s first in Iowa since Oct. 9, 2021, when he was still recovering politically from his second impeachment and the consequences his election lies had in leading to the riot at the Capitol. At that stop, in Des Moines, he shared the stage with Gov. Kim Reynolds and Senator Charles E. Grassley.

Those incumbents are both scheduled to return to the stage Thursday night for the rally in Sioux City. Both candidates have led their Democratic challengers by double digits in some recent polls.