MOBILE, Ala. — With barricades already standing behind the Mitchell Center on Thursday, the final day before the Trump Mobile rally brought a little of everything to the University of South Alabama and the communities around it: students painting protest signs in the Humanities Building, a conservative student group planning to volunteer inside the arena, supporters lining up to buy red hats at a Gulf Shores shop, and a national Republican strategy that puts the Port City on the first leg of a monthlong campaign sprint.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to take the stage at the Mitchell Center, the university’s arena at 5950 Old Shell Road, on Friday, Oct. 2. Doors open at 2 p.m., and the program begins at 6 p.m. A protest is planned for 1:30 p.m., before the doors open.
The visit is the president’s first rally in Mobile since his December 2016 “Thank You” tour stop at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, and it arrives about a month before the Nov. 3 general election, when Alabama voters will choose a new governor and a new U.S. senator.
Signs in the Humanities Building
On Thursday afternoon, some students gathered at the Humanities Building on the South campus to make signs for Friday’s protest. The message on many of them was that the president is not welcome on campus.
Ava Zuberi, a senior at the university, said she believes a single sign can carry weight.
“I still think that even a sign like this can speak volumes tomorrow, and I hope that a message gets across to other people,” Zuberi said.
Ahmed Zaitoun, a University of South Alabama alumnus who is involved with the group Mobile for Palestine, said a presidential visit to his former campus felt like a moment that demanded a response.
“It’s a really big thing when you have the President of the United States show up in your backyard as like a South student, and you’re just like, well, I gotta do something,” Zaitoun said.
Local law enforcement has said for days that it expects demonstrators. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch has said people have every right to express their views, whether they support the president or oppose him, and that his office will focus on any statements that cross into threats of violence. The U.S. Secret Service, which leads security for presidential events, has said it makes no distinction based on the message of any group and is prepared to help demonstrators exercise their First Amendment rights safely.
A conservative student group plans to be inside
Across campus, members of the university’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter were making plans of a different kind. Spokesperson Joshua Smith said some members will volunteer at the event, while others intend to arrive early to secure seats in the arena, which holds about 10,000 people.
“Some people are a little afraid of the protest but for the majority of us we’re planning to attend,” Smith said.
Young Americans for Freedom chapters are campus groups affiliated with the conservative Young America’s Foundation. Smith said the reaction he has heard from classmates has been mixed, and not strictly along party lines.
“Some people are super excited, like I said, whether they’re liberal or conservative, they’re like, the president’s coming, and that’s great. But then there’s also a lot of people like, get this x, y, z person off campus,” Smith said.
Smith said he hopes the rally gives students a chance to hear the president speak directly about national issues, including “the status of just the country, what he thinks of it, how immigration’s doing and things of that nature.”
The rally is not a university event. The Republican National Committee rented the Mitchell Center for what the university has described as a private, ticketed event, and the school has said it has no role in entry procedures or seating. Tickets are free but had to be reserved in advance through the organizers.
Supporters arrive with hopes for peace and lower prices
Not everyone near campus Thursday was there to protest. Some of the president’s supporters, including visitors from other parts of the state, said they were looking forward to his arrival.
“I hope he gets a warm welcome and I hope he finds an end to the war and of course everyone wants better prices,” said Jeff Graham, a Trump supporter.
A supporter from Prattville, who gave his name as David, said his hope was for unity.
“I hope he’ll just try to bring people together here in America. That’s the biggest thing,” he said.
Organizers and local officials have said they expect many rallygoers to travel in from surrounding counties and neighboring states, and local business leaders have said they hope visitors will fill hotel rooms and restaurants over a weekend that also includes South Alabama’s homecoming football game Saturday night.
Red hats sell fast in Gulf Shores
About an hour southeast in Gulf Shores, the run-up to the rally has been good for business at American Legacy, a store that sells patriotic and Trump-themed merchandise. Employees said foot traffic had already picked up as the midterm elections approached, and it rose further once the Mobile rally was announced.
Customer James Browning said he stopped in to find something to wear Friday.
“I’m going to go see Donald Trump speak tomorrow at the USA center and thought I’d wear something to be a little more patriotic,” Browning said.
Store owner Troy Rye said the phones have been busy as well.
“We’ve had quite a few more customers, a lot of phone calls, wanting to know if we had different merchandise,” Rye said. “Anything patriotic they’re after right now.”
Employee Johnny Bridges said the red “Make America Great Again” caps have been the top seller, though cups, mugs and other items have also moved quickly as the rally drew closer.
“At least 25 people came in buying shirts and buying hats. That’s the main thing they’re buying, is the red hats, Make America Great Again,” Bridges said. “I sold at least 12 total yesterday alone.”
Bridges recalled one shopper in particular. “One young girl, she came in just yesterday and bought four hats, and she was by herself,” he said.
Staff members said they do not expect the rush to end before the president arrives. The store plans to stay open during Friday’s rally.
Why Mobile: A 32-day campaign blitz
The Mobile stop is part of what the president has called a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Election Day on Nov. 3. He began the push Thursday with stops in Texas and Oklahoma, and he is scheduled to campaign Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.
National reporting describes the early stops as an effort to shore up enthusiasm among Republican voters in heavily Republican areas. In Mobile, the goal is twofold, according to a person familiar with the party’s strategy who spoke on condition of anonymity: boosting U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville in his race for governor against former Democratic U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, and reaching voters in the neighboring Florida Panhandle, which shares the Mobile media market.
In Florida, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican, is running for governor against David Jolly, a former Republican who left the party, became an independent and is now running as a Democrat. Republicans in Florida have faced some turbulence this cycle, and voter concerns about affordability and artificial intelligence data centers have become central issues in that race. Vice President JD Vance campaigned for Donalds in Lakeland, Florida, on Thursday.
“I have the easiest job in the world,” Vance said in Lakeland. “I get to talk about how crazy the Democrats are.”
The same two-for-one approach applied to Thursday’s Oklahoma rally in Durant, where Trump campaigned for Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Mazzei. Republican officials noted that Durant sits close to the Dallas-Fort Worth media market, allowing the president to reach Texas voters in the competitive U.S. Senate race between Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. Earlier Thursday, the president toured a truck manufacturing facility in Texas.
The headwinds Republicans face
The president is hitting the road at a difficult moment in national polling. A new poll found that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the cost of living, and 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, a new low. Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about the midterms, which will decide control of Congress, as concerns about prices and gasoline costs persist and the war with Iran continues.
Trump has said the problem is one of messaging, not performance.
“I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything,” Trump said Thursday as he left the White House, while blaming the press for not covering the positive parts of his administration.
A day earlier, he said, “We’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country.” He has said he is traveling widely to persuade Republican voters to turn out as if his own name were on the ballot. “I’m going out because nobody’s selling it,” he said.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Republican senators on Capitol Hill this week that the president will campaign almost daily through Election Day, and she showed them a travel schedule that attendees described as extensive. Republican officials will not send him to places where they believe his presence could hurt their candidates, according to the person familiar with the party’s strategy.
West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said White House officials are “acknowledging the headwinds” but that “they have a strategy, and we have a strategy.” She defended sending the president to traditionally conservative territory.
“He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else,” Capito said.
What each party is saying
Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that “the president is barnstorming the country, energizing our base, and supercharging Republican candidates in battleground districts and beyond.”
The Democratic National Committee said Trump and Vance are “desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher, and now — in the final stretch to the midterms — they’re desperately pleading with voters to ‘give (them) another chance,'” said DNC deputy communications director Kendall Witmer.
Locally, Republicans have predicted the rally will lift turnout after low participation in this summer’s special congressional primaries, while Mobile County Democrats have said the visit will remind voters of their frustrations with fuel prices and the cost of living. Jones, the Democratic nominee for governor, has scheduled a town hall in Daphne at the same hour as the rally and has called the timing a coincidence.
Who is expected on stage
Tuberville is set to introduce the president. Also expected on the program are U.S. Sen. Katie Britt; U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat Tuberville is leaving; state Rep. Rhett Marques, the Republican nominee in the 2nd Congressional District; and former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, the Republican nominee in the 1st Congressional District.
Earlier Friday, federal and state officials are scheduled to break ground on the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project at an invitation-only ceremony expected to begin at 11 a.m.
If you are going Friday
- Doors: 2 p.m. at the Mitchell Center, 5950 Old Shell Road.
- Program: 6 p.m.
- Protest: Planned for 1:30 p.m.
- Parking: No parking directly outside the Mitchell Center. Free, first-come, first-served guest parking is available in two lots along USA South Drive, with overflow off Delta Loop and Jack Brunson Drive near the residence halls.
- Screening: Expect airport-style security. Bags larger than 18 by 13 by 7 inches, sign supports, umbrellas inside the arena, coolers, aerosols and weapons are among the prohibited items.
- Weather: Rain is likely, so plan for wet lines outside the arena and slower driving.
Drivers who are not attending should avoid the area around the University of South Alabama on Friday afternoon and evening. Old Shell Road is scheduled to close between University Boulevard and Jaguar Boulevard around 5 p.m. for the presidential motorcade, and campus roads around the arena have been closed since Thursday night. For the full list of closures and campus changes, see our guide to what to expect Friday.