Donald and Melania Trump Vote Early as More Than 26 Million Cast Ballots

More than 26 million Americans have already cast ballots in the midterm elections, with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump voting Saturday in Florida before the president headed to Georgia for a campaign rally.

According to NBC News, 14.3 million mail-in ballots and 12.5 million early in-person ballots had been cast nationwide, for a combined total of about 26.8 million votes.

The Trumps voted together at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office in West Palm Beach after the president spent the morning at his nearby golf course. Wearing an “I Voted” sticker afterward, Trump told reporters he had backed Republicans across the ballot. Asked whether he had voted along party lines, the president replied: “Very much so.”

His Saturday ballot also comes as he seeks to use the closing stretch of the midterm campaign to boost Republican candidates around the country, including two closely watched contests in his home state of Florida. Trump has endorsed Representative Byron Donalds for governor against Democrat David Jolly and backed Senator Ashley Moody, who is running against Democratic state lawmaker Angie Nixon.

Trump was expected to travel later Saturday to Georgia, where he is campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins and gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson. The appearance will be the president’s second rally in Georgia in eight days as Republicans seek to maximize turnout ahead of November 3.

The president also addressed several other issues while speaking with reporters after voting. He again defended a controversial campaign advertisement from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and defended his administration’s legal action involving the Alaska Senate election. Asked about the war in Iran, Trump suggested both further military action and a negotiated settlement remained possibilities, saying: “I may have to finish it off. Or maybe they’ll make a deal, but I’m not sure. Either way, we win.”

Melania Trump, meanwhile, was asked whether she might travel to Ukraine after her involvement in efforts to facilitate humanitarian assistance in Oleshky. “We will see,” she said.

This is a breaking news article. Updates to follow.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Anthony Murray and Gabe Whisnant.