Senate Majority Leader John Thune and GOP Whip John Barrasso are preparing to hit the campaign trail in October.
Thune is planning to swing through a number of states starting with North Carolina this week, he told POLITICO. He said he’ll also go to South Carolina, Florida, twice to Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Michigan, among others, as Republicans fight to keep control of the Senate in an increasingly difficult political environment for their party.
“There’s a whole bunch,” he said about the campaign stops.
Barrasso, meanwhile, will travel to Ohio, Montana, Kansas and Kentucky next month, according to plans first shared with POLITICO. Barrasso has already been on the campaign trail in Iowa, Texas and South Carolina.
Ohio and Michigan are battleground races that could determine which party controls the chamber come January as Sen. Jon Husted tries to fend off a come-back bid by former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). Republicans also believe they could flip outgoing Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ seat in Michigan.
And in Iowa and Kansas, Republicans are facing closer-than-expected races that are privately giving some GOP senators, granted anonymity to speak candidly, heartburn.
Thune and Barrasso aren’t the only members of GOP leadership making campaign stops.
In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson was in New York on Sunday and New Jersey on Monday as part of his 22-state campaign sprint across 44 districts, according to a person familiar with his plans.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is in the middle of campaigning across 11 states for 16 incumbents and candidates, is heading on a Northeast swing, according to a different person familiar with his plans.
Starting Wednesday, Scalise will head to New York and New Hampshire.
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