President Trump on Thursday said GOP enthusiasm is surging and attacked prominent Democratic nominees in personal terms, using an incorrect name for a Michigan candidate and dubbing Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico a “con man.”
Mr. Trump, speaking in the White House Rose Garden, questioned why Mr. Talarico disappeared from the campaign trail for nine days. He rejected the official explanation that Mr. Talarico needed to recover from influenza.
“He’s a con man,” Mr. Trump said. “I never heard of a flu that lasted that long.”
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Mr. Trump said the Republican nominee, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, might be polarizing but is a preferable candidate and will help Republicans keep the Senate majority.
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to retake the upper chamber.
Mr. Trump used a deliberately wrong first name for the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed.
“His name is Abdul, but I think I call him Mohammed Abdul El-Sayed,” Mr. Trump said, adding that voters should support Republican Mike Rogers. “He’s a good man, and a person who likes our country.”
Mr. Trump said Mr. El-Sayed is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization, but the candidate has denied ties to the group.
Mr. Trump spoke on a wide range of topics during his speech Thursday to associations that represent firefighters, police, sheriffs and the Border Patrol.
The president criticized his 2024 election rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and said he would like to see the death penalty for anyone who kills a first responder. He spoke about the perils of drugs and drinking, his border-security efforts and White House renovation projects.
He praised the military’s effort to blow up alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea and bemoaned the lack of drug enforcement within Mexico. He said his efforts against drug cartels will continue and accelerate.
“They know they have a certain period of time to essentially give up,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump paved over parts of the Rose Garden so that it could host events without the threat of chairs and high heels sinking into wet grass.
He uses the patio for occasional lunches and dinners, akin to the scene at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Steve Hirsch, chairman of the National Volunteer Fire Council, gave Mr. Trump a firefighter’s helmet as an honorary gift.
“I could have used this in Butler,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024. “This would have been very helpful. I mean, I wish you gave it to me a little bit earlier.”
The president said he did not get much sleep after returning late from a series of rallies out West, including in Alaska, Arizona and Montana.
“This is a full-on tour,” Mr. Trump said. “The crowds are unbelievable. Actually, I think we’re having a big impact. The ‘Dumocrats’ are saying, ‘There’s something bad happening.’
“I think we’re getting a lot of people elected,” Mr. Trump said.
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