![President Trump speaks at the IX Center in Cleveland. [Nick Castele / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c218762/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2500x1406+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F11%2F05%2F1105trump.jpg)
President Trump dropped into Ohio the afternoon before Election Day in a bid to boost the Republican ticket here.
Trump, joined by his daughter Ivanka, called a number of GOP candidates to share the stage with him during his hour-long rally at the I-X Center in Cleveland. The president was also scheduled to speak in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Cape Girardeau, Mo.
“Tuesday is your chance to send a message to the Democrat mob and to everyone who has made it their mission to denigrate our movement and to divide our great nation,” Trump told a large crowd in the exhibition hall. “Not going to happen.”
Trump called Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray “a bad person who will do a terrible job,” and later welcomed Republican Mike DeWine to the stage.
DeWine congratulated the president for naming conservative judges to the bench, and told voters that he needed their help on Tuesday.
“We will continue to work until the polls close at 7:30 tomorrow night,” DeWine said. “Help us get this victory to keep Ohio growing, to keep Ohio moving.”
The president also invited Rep. Jim Renacci to the lectern, saying the Republican U.S. Senate candidate “has run, I hear, a really good campaign.” Renacci has lagged Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the polls.
Trump opened his remarks in Cleveland by celebrating positive jobs numbers, but he soon turned to immigration.
“Democrats are inviting caravan after caravan—isn’t that nice?—of illegal aliens to flood into our country and overwhelm your communities,” Trump said, referring to a group of a few thousand potential asylum-seekers who remain hundreds of miles from the U.S. border.
Trump also claimed that Democrats wanted to give free healthcare and voting rights to unlawful immigrants. PolitiFact recently rated similar campaign claims by the president as false.
Ohio Democrats have also sought assistance from national party leaders. Cordray spent the weekend campaigning in Northeast Ohio with former Vice President Joe Biden, who has stumped for Democrats around the country this midterm.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate also received help from recording artist John Legend, a native of Springfield, Ohio.
