WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Trump cast his midterm ballot Saturday – voting the straight Republican ticket in Florida before hopping a plane to rally in Georgia.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump rolled up to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office together after the president spent the morning at his nearby golf course, his "I Voted" sticker already affixed.
Asked if he'd voted the party line, Trump didn't hesitate: "Very much so."
The president – who spent years railing against mail-in voting even as he used it himself – cast his ballot early and in person, with officials predicting record early turnout ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
Doubles down on the ad everyone's howling about
Trump used his stop at the polling site to defend the Ohio attack ad that has detonated the governor's race – the one featuring the estranged mother of Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton.
The spot has drawn nationwide blowback because the spot glosses over the ugliest part of the story: the woman lost custody of her children after her husband – the kids' stepfather – was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.
Trump threw his weight behind Republican gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy anyway, even as former President Barack Obama blasted the ad on the trail Saturday as proof Ramaswamy has "no line he will not cross."
'Either way, we win'
The president also defended his order for the Justice Department to sue to block certification of the Alaska Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses – a fight sparked by a second candidate named Dan Sullivan landing on the ballot.
On the war in Iran, Trump was blunt about the endgame.
"I may have to finish it off. Or maybe they'll make a deal, but I'm not sure," he said. "Either way, we win."
Melania's ceasefire – and a maybe on Ukraine
The first lady, who this week brokered a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the ravaged, Russian-occupied city of Oleshky so that aid could get in and civilians could get out, was asked whether she might travel to Ukraine herself.
"We will see," she told reporters.
Florida pile-on
Trump has gone all-in on the Sunshine State, endorsing Republican Rep. Byron Donalds – running against Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat David Jolly – to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He's also campaigned for Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who is running to fill the final two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's old Senate term against progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon.
From there it was wheels up to Perry, Georgia, where Trump stumped for Republican candidate Mike Collins and declared: "We're in the golden age of America."
