MOBILE, Ala. — Eleven years ago, Donald Trump arrived in Mobile in his Boeing 757, strode onto a football field to “Sweet Home Alabama” and was greeted by a sight that revealed the scale of his fledging political movement: Tens of thousands of people had braved sweltering temperatures and snarled traffic to see him.
An estimated 30,000 people had come to witness Trump on the ascent, proving that his brash, freewheeling political style could win over supporters even in the Bible Belt. The event marked the first time he had drawn such a large crowd, and it was a harbinger of the boisterous rallies that would come to define his more than decade in politics.
Trump returned with his presidential approval ratings at historic lows and Republicans struggling to translate his power to mobilize their base into broader electoral support. Instead of a 40,000-seat football stadium, he appeared at a 10,000-seat basketball arena on the campus of University of South Alabama with hundreds of empty seats in the upper levels.
Outside the stadium, protesters held a “F— Trump” banner, and students heckled people walking into the rally.
With just a month to go before the midterms, Trump is returning to places where his movement remains strongest even as Republicans struggle in competitive districts across the country. He warned his supporters to get out and vote, despite the healthy lead that most Alabama Republicans hold in the polls.
The contrast captures the challenge facing a party dependent on an unpopular president. Trump retains enormous influence among the Republican voters who powered his ascent, even as dissatisfaction with his leadership threatens candidates who must appeal beyond his most committed supporters.
Trump is expected to host a rally in the battleground state of Ohio on Saturday. But his effort to boost Republicans largely have targeted voters who need the least convincing. He spent Thursday night rallying in deep-red Durant, Oklahoma.
There were no signs of Trump’s political problems inside the arena, where people intermittently yelled that they loved him. He walked out to roaring applause and chants of “USA.” As he mentioned his deeply unpopular war in Iran, people rose from their seats to clap, and cheered as he declared that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon.
“I don’t know if you know, it sort of all began here,” Trump told the crowd as he took the stage, recalling how his campaign at the time had struggled to find a venue large enough to accommodate his supporters.
“The convention center said, ‘We can’t take it. There’s too many people.’ So I said, ‘Where the hell do we go?’ They sent us to a stadium someplace here, right? You know that. And we packed the stadium, and the rest is history.”
He promised to come back next week for a football game between Georgia and Alabama.
Trump said his swing through friendly territory is an expression of gratitude.
“I’m here to say, ‘Hello, I love you, and I’m coming really as a sign of respect,” Trump said Friday to applause from a sea of people in MAGA hats, many of whom wore red, white and blue clothing.
The Alabama trip presented an opportunity to help Republicans fighting to retain control of Congress pick up an extra seat. Trump boosted Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee for governor, and Rhett Marques, a state representative who is seeking to flip Alabama’s newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District, north of Mobile.
The Cook Political Report rates the district as “likely Republican,” but Democrats see the president’s visit as evidence Republicans are less confident about picking up the seat after redrawing the maps than they had hoped.
Trump’s rally shows Republicans “understand they are vulnerable,” said Rep. Shomari Figures (D), who is defending his seat.
“They’re trying to pull out all the stops,” Figures said. “Republicans were certainly hoping for a much more decisive advantage in how they were going about redrawing districts. Right now they are not getting the traction in Alabama they were hoping to get.”
Figures criticized Marques for spending time so close to Election Day at an event outside the district and said he would spend the evening speaking with constituents there.
During the rally, Trump also touted $4 billion bridge construction project in Mobile on Friday, joking that “maybe they’ll name the damned bridge after me.”
“And I’ll be happy,” he continued. “Then I’ll say you can have overruns, I don’t care.”
Facing voter dissatisfaction in the economy, the president has turned to promoting investment deals and construction projects as evidence he can deliver results, again citing $21 trillion in investments into the country. In Alabama, he said, the state would see more than half a dozen major manufacturing investments across the state, spanning pharmaceutical, defense, steel and other industries.
Democrats have broadly sought to portray Trump’s swing through Republican strongholds as a last resort.
“Now — as his approval ratings sink to record lows and even his strongest supporters turn their backs on him — Trump is desperately traveling to ruby-red states to rally his base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat,” the Democratic National Committee wrote in a news release Friday.
Next week, Trump is expected to travel to reliably Republican Nebraska, where the Senate race has become unexpectedly competitive. Democrats have not fielded a candidate in the race, and Sen. Pete Ricketts (R) is defending his seat from Dan Osborn, a union leader running as an independent. He also plans to travel to San Antonio, which would mark his third visit to the state in a month.
Regina Cook drove from Mississippi to volunteer at the event Friday, her fifth Trump rally.
“This is not as big a crowd as I was hoping,” said Cook, who donned an American flag bucket hat and a sequin jacket for the occasion. “It was adequate. He didn’t draw attention to it. I thought, ‘Don’t say there’s a packed hall,’ because there’s not.”
She attributed the turnout to the muggy and rainy weather, as well as a lack of attention on elections when the president is not on the ballot.
As Trump left the arena, his supporters chanted “Make America Great Again.”
“On election night, Alabama is going to prove that America does not belong to the people who hate it,” Trump told his supporters. “America belongs to the people who love it.”
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