WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump wrapped up his midterm campaign Monday with a roughly hourlong speech beside the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, spending most of it on the repair work his administration ordered for the landmark rather than on the elections.
The event was billed as his last public campaign appearance before Tuesday’s vote. Trump walked a small audience of invited guests, numbering in the dozens, through the fixes made to the 2,000-foot basin, describing rusted pipes, worn joints, new rebar and an algae problem. At one point an aide held up large photographs of the work.
The president did not turn to the midterms until more than 20 minutes in, when he called them the most important of his lifetime and asked voters to back Republicans. His election remarks lasted about 10 minutes before he returned to the renovation and other projects in the capital, and he joked about putting his own name on the pool.
Trump has made the elections a referendum on himself, urging supporters at rallies to vote as if he were on the ballot. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the Monday speech as a weak final pitch.
Control of the House and Senate, both held by Republicans, is being decided Tuesday.
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