Trump to make third visit to Ohio this month for rally

President Trump will campaign in Ohio next week in a last-minute bid to shore up support for GOP candidates in the state, the Republican National Committee announced Wednesday.

Trump will visit Chillicothe, which is roughly 45 miles south of the state’s capital Columbus, on Oct. 28.

The midterm rally will mark Trump’s third visit to Ohio this month, underscoring the importance of the state going into Election Day.

Vice President Vance, who is from Ohio and represented the state in the Senate, has also made a number of recent stops in the Buckeye State.

Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) is locked in a toss-up race against former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), while Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton are locked in their own toss-up race for governor. Democrats have signaled they are feeling increasingly optimistic about both races.

Ohio politics were thrust into the national spotlight this week after Ramaswamy confirmed to reporters his campaign was behind an attack featuring Acton’s estranged, biological mother insinuating that her daughter has mental health issues.

Acton has said she was a victim of sexual assault and neglect during her childhood and has accused her stepfather of molesting her. He was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was 12 years old, according to court documents. Acton has since been estranged from her mother.

The ad has resulted in bipartisan backlash against Ramaswamy, leading to Vance coming to Ramaswamy’s defense while campaigning in the state Wednesday.

“I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” the vice president said , speaking at an antifraud task force press conference in Cincinnati before heading to a Ramaswamy rally.

Meanwhile, Trump has also sought to boost Husted on the campaign trail. The president raised eyebrows at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., on Tuesday when he praised the senator’s physique.

“I looked at his a‑‑, and then I looked at his legs, and my — I said, ‘His a‑‑ is like, it’s like a pile of muscle.’ Then I looked at his legs, and I said, ‘Man, his feet are big,’” the president said. “Then I looked at his shoulders, and I tapped him on the shoulder, and it actually hurt my hand. It was like a piece of steel. I said, ‘This guy’s a monster.’”