MOBILE, Ala. — President Donald Trump returned Friday night to the city where his first presidential campaign caught fire, urging a cheering crowd to “pretend I’m on the ballot” when they vote in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The Trump rally in Mobile, held inside the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center, doubled as a showcase for Alabama’s Republican ticket, from gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville to congressional hopeful Rhett Marques.
Trump spoke for more than an hour, renewing his promise of $5,000 “Trump dividend” checks, defending the war with Iran and joking that the new Interstate 10 bridge might be named after him.
“This election, I want you to pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump said. “When I’m on the ballot, we win. When I’m not on the ballot, we get 44 percent. So this time, I want you to pretend I’m on the ballot.”
He said he wanted turnout so large that the election would be “too big to rig.”
A Homecoming of Sorts in the Port City
In 2015, as a first-time candidate, Trump held an early mega-rally at Ladd-Peebles Stadium that some estimated drew 30,000 people.
“I don’t know if you know, it sort of all began here,” Trump said after taking the stage. “We packed the stadium, and the rest is history.”
Friday marked his third visit to the Port City and his first indoor rally here. Trump said he was visiting reliably Republican states such as Alabama and Oklahoma, where he held a rally Thursday in Durant, out of gratitude.
“I’m here really because, you know, sometimes, even though you don’t have to come here, you gotta pay respect to the people that have loved you right from the beginning,” he said.
The crowd waved Alabama and American flags and broke into occasional “War Eagle” and “Roll Tide” chants.
Arrival at Brookley and a Busy Arena
Air Force One touched down at Brookley Field just after 5 p.m. Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis and his family greeted the president after he stepped off the plane. U.S. Reps. Dale Strong and Robert Aderholt traveled with Trump, as did conservative commentator Laura Loomer.
Some residents waited out the rain near the airfield for a glimpse. Leigh Breal pointed to the area’s shipping industry, Airbus, Austal and trucking as signs of the city’s growth. “I think this was a great place for him to come kick it off,” she said.
Local first responders escorted the motorcade to campus, where it arrived just before 6 p.m.; it was back at Brookley shortly after 8 p.m.
Supporters lined up hours before gates opened at noon. The Mitchell Center holds about 10,000 people, and crowd estimates varied. An estimated 4,500 people were inside shortly after 6 p.m., with the upper deck filling in. Other estimates put the arena about three-quarters full, or roughly 7,000 people, while another count placed the crowd at about 8,000 by the time Trump spoke.
Attendees were not allowed to bring their own signs. Instead, placards echoing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act were handed out on the lower level, reading “No Tax on Overtime,” “No Tax on Tips,” “No Tax on Social Security” and “Lower Prices.”
Endorsements Up and Down the Ballot
Trump urged Alabamians to elect Tuberville, a U.S. senator and former Auburn University football coach, as governor. Tuberville faces Democrat Doug Jones in the race to succeed Gov. Kay Ivey.
“When you vote 32 days from now, you’re going to elect Tommy Tuberville as governor,” Trump said. “Tommy was a great coach, he was a great senator, and he’s going to be a great governor.”
He also backed U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, to succeed Tuberville in the Senate. Moore faces Democrat Everett Wess, a Birmingham attorney. Trump’s other endorsements included:
- Former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, running to regain the 1st Congressional District seat, which includes Mobile under the new map.
- State Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Enterprise, the GOP nominee in the 2nd Congressional District.
- Katherine Robertson, the Republican nominee for Alabama attorney general.
- John Wahl, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor.
- U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for governor in neighboring Florida.
Trump said he did not need to “waste time” on Republican U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt, Dale Strong and Gary Palmer because they are “so far ahead.”
Late in the speech, Trump brought the candidates on stage one at a time. “This is a team effort here,” Carl said. “We’re going to win together. Nov. 3.”
Tuberville called Trump “the best president in my lifetime, and the best golfing president in my lifetime,” adding, “Mr. President, we’re going to stay behind you 110 percent.” Earlier, Tuberville pledged to focus on jobs, education and workforce development as governor.
The 2nd District Battleground
Trump described Marques’ challenge to Democratic U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures as the only Alabama congressional race that is “a little close.”
“It’s new. It’s fresh, it’s brand new and once you are in there for two weeks nobody’s going to come close and I see you’re doing great in the polls,” Trump said. “We’ve got to get him in, that’s a good one.”
Figures, of Mobile, was first elected in 2024, giving Alabama two Black members of Congress for the first time in its history. The 2nd District was redrawn this year to favor Republicans after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act. A nonpartisan forecaster moved the seat from “solid” to “likely” Republican in late June, and some pollsters consider it a tossup. An internal poll conducted this summer by a national Democratic group showed Marques and Figures tied at 46% with 8% undecided.
Robertson, who described her work in the attorney general’s office challenging the earlier court-ordered map, said the rally was for all Republican candidates but “most especially” Marques. “The seat Rhett is running for is absolutely critical to maintaining a Republican majority in Congress and that’s why liberals tried to take that seat from us,” she said.
Moore framed the race in national terms. “Out of 435 House seats there are about 18 that are in play in America. We need to hold six. Rhett’s seat is one of those key votes,” he said.
Marques said, “This race is critical to keeping control of the House and keeping it in the hands of conservative Republicans. If the socialists get control of the House, their plan is to undo everything President Trump has done over the last two years. We can’t let that happen.”
Figures said Thursday that Trump was “attempting to go somewhere where he thinks he will be well received,” but questioned whether that was still true in Alabama given fuel prices and tariffs’ impact on farmers.
A Bridge, Shipyards and a Name Suggestion
Trump’s visit came hours after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and state officials broke ground on the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project, which will link Mobile with the Eastern Shore. Trump said the project was “made possible with $3 billion in funding from the Trump administration.”
“This is the largest infrastructure project in the history of Alabama so far, so Tommy, please, no overruns,” he said. Then he added, “Maybe I’ll be happy and they’ll name the damn bridge after me.”
Moore, speaking before Trump arrived, had already proposed naming the span in the president’s honor. “I have proposed that we name that bridge the gateway to America Donald J. Trump bridge,” Moore said to loud cheers. Trump said that if that happened, he would be glad to let the builders go over budget.
The roughly $4.15 billion project’s first phase, a toll-backed, six-lane cable-stayed bridge over the Mobile River, is expected to be finished by 2031. Tuberville said this week the planned tolls make him “sick” and that as governor he would fight to lower or eliminate them.
Trump also pointed to shipbuilding. “My administration also invested $30 billion to revitalize American shipbuilding,” he said. “We’re now building brand new Coast Guard cutters right here in Mobile Bay.”
He also credited Tuberville for a planned move of Fannie Mae offices from San Francisco to Birmingham and cited falling homicide numbers nationally.
The $5,000 ‘Trump Dividend’
Trump repeated his pledge that Americans would receive $5,000 each if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate, adding a condition that the money must be spent in the United States.
“If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pocket and economic success for our country like you have never seen before,” he said. “The Trump dividend is approximately $1 trillion, but we have a record-setting $21 trillion that’s being invested in our country in just 15 months. When you spend it and recirculate it in our country, it costs us far less than it sounds.”
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warned last month that the plan would cost about $1.2 trillion and “explode” the deficit, and the idea has drawn significant opposition within the GOP. On the flight home, he announced checks of nearly $100 to more than 20 million seniors for Medicare Part B premiums.
Iran War and Gas Prices
Trump’s approval rating has slipped nationally and in Alabama since the war with Iran began in February and gas prices climbed. A national poll this week found only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of his job performance. A new Alabama poll put his favorability at 44.3% favorable and 46.7% unfavorable.
Trump said the conflict would likely end after the midterms. “On the price of oil, we’re paying a price,” he said. “But boy is it a small price to pay compared to those lunatics putting a nuclear weapon right over Mobile, Alabama.” He added, “They’re never going to have a nuclear weapon. As soon as it does end, oil prices will come tumbling down.”
Many attendees said high prices had not cooled their support. “Gas prices are not great, but we’re just dealing with the fluctuations,” said Lauren French. Kay Wilson of Elkmont said, “The high gas prices is a Democrat thing. Once elections are over with, they’re going to bottom out.”
Scott Carpenter, 64, of Citronelle, said record diesel prices were hurting friends. “They love Donald Trump. They just want the diesel price to come down,” he said, adding of the visit, “For him to come here, he had to be a little nervous.”
Sharp Words for Democrats and the Press
Trump spent much of the speech criticizing Democrats, at times calling them “Dumocrats.” He called Jones, who served in the Senate before losing to Tuberville in 2020, “a radical lunatic” and “a loser,” and said Jones had backed open borders. He also repeated his claim that the 2020 election was rigged.
“America doesn’t belong to the people who hate it,” Trump said near the end. “It belongs to the people who love it.”
Jones Responds
Jones held his own events Friday, including a 3 p.m. rally on Bayou Street in Mobile and an evening town hall across the bay in Daphne. He accused Trump of coming to feed his ego.
“We were going to Mobile anyway, but then all of a sudden Trump started trolling me,” Jones said. “I don’t think it’s about Tommy Tuberville. I think he is campaigning, not for a candidate, I think he’s campaigning to get the Mobile Bay bridge named after him.”
Students Charged Ahead of Visit
Three University of South Alabama students, Amare Jemal Woods, Cameron Lamark Lewis and Kayla Leaann Smith, were arrested and charged with threatening the president in separate social media posts, according to federal court records made public Friday. The records indicate the alleged threats were not connected. Charges are accusations, and the students are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
What Comes Next
Trump closed the night with his signature “YMCA” dance, adding a golf swing after teasing Tuberville earlier about which of them is the better golfer. He said he will return to Alabama next Saturday, Oct. 10, for the Georgia-Alabama game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
“We love Alabama,” Trump said. “We love it so much I’ll be here again to watch the football game.”
Trump is expected in Ohio this weekend and in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday. Alabama voters will choose a governor, a U.S. senator and members of Congress on Nov. 3.
Update: Turnout, Gas Prices and the Road to Nov. 3
Additional details from Friday night’s rally underscore why Republican speakers repeatedly pressed the crowd to vote. Turnout in Alabama has been an overarching concern for many GOP candidates this year: fewer than one in four registered voters took part in the primary season. The May 19 primary drew 23.16% turnout, the June 16 runoff 10.74%, and the Aug. 11 special congressional primary just 5.24%.
Although the 2nd Congressional District race between Republican Rhett Marques and Democratic incumbent Shomari Figures was a centerpiece of the evening, the rally itself took place in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District. Nonpartisan forecasters rate AL-01 as Solid Republican, with a partisan voting index of R+17, while the newly redrawn AL-02 is considered Lean Republican, with an R+7 index.
Trump also addressed rising fuel costs, calling them a “small price to pay” compared with the danger of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, and predicted that the conflict would end “probably right after the election,” after which “oil prices will come tumbling down.” On Friday, AAA reported that the average price of regular gasoline in Alabama was $4.01 per gallon and diesel was $6.02, compared with $2.79 and $3.45 one year earlier.
The president took aim at Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones, accusing him of supporting “open borders” and diversity, equity and inclusion policies during his time in the Senate. Jones, who held his own events in Mobile and Daphne on Friday, has said he views the rally as a sign that Republicans are worried. “We’re scaring the hell out of them,” Jones said in a recent interview. “They think Alabama is a firewall. Now they’ve got to protect a firewall. Well, it’s not a firewall anymore.”
Trump said he did not “waste a lot of time” on U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt, Gary Palmer and Dale Strong because “they’re so far ahead,” and he pointed to projects in Birmingham and Huntsville as well as investments from Mercedes-Benz, U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal and shipbuilders, saying, “Nobody has ever done for a state what I’ve done for Alabama.” He also referred to his 2015 visit to Mobile, when he was endorsed by then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, saying “it sort of all began here.”
Tuberville, speaking before the president, outlined his workforce plans. “As your governor, we’re going to have to train people. Every kid does not need to go to four-year school,” he said, adding that he wants to expand community college and workforce development programs.
Key dates: The deadline to register to vote in Alabama is Oct. 19. The general election is Nov. 3.
