Trump teases 'big announcement' coming next week

Former U.S. president Donald Trump said Monday he will be making a "big announcement" next week in Florida as he teased a third presidential run while campaigning in Ohio ahead of the final day of voting in this year's midterm elections.

"I'm going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Mar-a-Lago," Trump said before a cheering crowd in Vandalia, Ohio, on Monday night, where he was holding his final rally of the midterm season to bolster Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

"We want nothing to detract from the importance of tomorrow."

Trump has been increasingly explicit about his plans to launch a third presidential campaign, saying in recent days that he would "very, very, very probably" run again and would be formalizing his intentions "very, very soon."

"I will probably have to do it again but stay tuned," he said Sunday night in Miami. "Stay tuned to tomorrow night in the great state of Ohio."

Republican officials and some people in Trump's orbit had urged him to wait until after the midterms were over to launch his campaign, in part to avoid turning the election into a referendum on him and to shield him from potential blame should Republicans not do as well as the party hopes.

But Trump has been eager to move forward and has said privately for weeks that he might announce his plans at one of his homestretch rallies, even as aides have been discussing possible venues and dates for a formal announcement in the coming days.

At a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend, he told the crowd that "in the very next very, very, very short period of time, you're going to be so happy, OK?"

"You're going to be surprised at how soon. But first we have to win a historic victory for Republicans on Nov. 8," he said.

Trump won Ohio, once considered a bellwether, by eight points in both 2016 and 2020. The state also proved an early test of his endorsement power when his decision to back Vance in the state's hyper-competitive Senate primary vaulted the political newcomer to victory in a crowded Republican field.

Vance, an author, venture capitalist and onetime Trump critic, is part of a new generation of Republican leaders who have embraced Trump's "America First" positions, including his isolationist foreign policy and focus on immigration.