US: Trump talks of 'big announcement' coming up on November 15

On Monday, former president Donald Trump said that he would 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, November 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 JD 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 formalising 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.

However, Trump has been eager to move forward, and has said privately for weeks that he might announce his plans at one of his home stretch 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?”

• More than 40 million have cast early ballots in US midterm vote