President Trump played to an embarrassingly sparse crowd in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday night.
Parts of the Covelli Center were tarped off, and other sections had rows of empty seats as Trump made his way to the stage.
The Trump supporters who did show up were treated to the president’s appreciation for Senator Jon Husted’s rear end and his mockery of a protester whom they physically assaulted, with Trump calling her a “fat guy.” Trump also played his other greatest hits, attacking critics of his pro-Russia moves amid the Ukraine war and repeating his racist attacks on Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community.
Rallies in packed venues have been a fixture of Trump’s political career, fueling his winning momentum in 2016 and 2024. Trump captured a majority of the vote in 2020 and 2024 in Youngstown, located in the Midwest’s Rust Belt, where local economies have struggled for decades after the closure of industrial plants, fueling pro-Trump sentiment.
Empty seats in a place where Trump has previously enjoyed massive support is not a good sign for Republicans ahead of the midterms, especially as he played to a similarly diminished crowd in the Buckeye State earlier this month. Incumbent Senator Jon Husted is not polling well against his Democratic challenger, former Senator Sherrod Brown, and neither is Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy versus Democrat Amy Acton. Come November, Republicans may lose big in Ohio, a state Trump once helped recapture, thanks to his economic failures and the Iran war.