Republicans in Battleground Districts Don’t Want Trump to Campaign With Them: ‘We’ve Told Them He Cannot Come’
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Republican candidates in battleground districts are not keen on having President Donald Trump join them on the campaign trail, according to a report by Politico on Friday that cited “more than two dozen GOP lawmakers, candidates and operatives.”
Trump isn’t on the ballot this November, but the fate of his agenda during the last two years of his term certainly is, with the GOP’s grasp on majority control of the House and Senate hanging in the balance, and key gubernatorial and legislative seats on the ballot as well.
The polling numbers for the president and his party have been brutal as his second term has progressed, with his immigration crackdown cratering his support, the handling of the Epstein files getting abysmal marks, the Iran War being unpopular with voters all across the political spectrum. Even Americans’ views on his handling of the economy and inflation — issues he had polled strongly on during his campaigns — taking body blows.
The GOP is holding an unusual midterm convention this month in Dallas, Texas, with Trump as a dominant presence, but multiple media outlets have reported a lack of Republican enthusiasm amid frustrations with the president’s unpopular policies, the cost of attendance, and concerns about the “optics” of such an event right before the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
That lack of enthusiasm extends beyond just the convention, according to Politico’s report, which noted that while Trump “appears eager to get on the campaign trail” and plans to be “heavily involved in the final 30 days” before the midterms, Republican candidates are “not all thrilled” about the prospect.
Certainly some Republicans are actively soliciting the president’s support, like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who is being financially clobbered by Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D), his Democratic opponent in Texas’ U.S. Senate race. With the incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) uninterested in helping the scandal-plagued rival who knocked him out of the primary and national GOP donors viewing other less expensive states a more efficient target for their money, Paxton and his allies have been desperately urging Trump to direct some of the largesse from his super PAC to the race.
But Politico found that “many Republicans facing tough elections — even in areas the president carried by double digits in 2024 — are wary of tying themselves too closely to Trump as his approval rating continues to drag.”
The report highlighted the dilemma these Republicans are facing, “privately admit[ting] they’re stuck in an uncomfortable spot” because if they are perceived as distancing themselves from Trump, they “risk alienating the MAGA faithful or the president himself, whose super PAC is sitting on more than $400 million they desperately need deployed to help them win key races,” but being seen as too closely intertwined with the president risks his unpopular Iran war and economic woes dragging them down too.
In Politico’s interviews with “more than two dozen GOP lawmakers, candidates and operatives,” the reporters found that “[m]ostly, they don’t want to talk about it.”
Some Republican campaigns have even told Trump’s team they do not want the president to come to their districts at all, Politico reported, with advisers telling their candidates to avoid mentioning Trump during campaign speeches.
“We’ve told them he cannot come,” said one Republican identified as ” in a competitive House GOP race in a district where Trump won by double digits in 2024,” adding, “Candidly, he would not be helpful here … I do not believe they would send him without our OK. And if they did, we probably wouldn’t campaign with him.”
One House Republican facing a competitive re-election battle described the campaign’s internal conversations as fretting about the “problem” of “You’re f*cked if you mention him too much, and you’re also f*cked if you don’t stay in his good graces.”
“We can’t turn around now and pretend that we don’t know him,” a GOP operative in a battleground state told Politico, especially for those Republicans who benefited from Trump’s endorsement to win their primaries.
“Anyone who tries to distance themselves after hugging, you just can’t get away with that,” the operative added. “All you’re gonna do is piss off the MAGA lovers, who we still need to keep in the family…Every cycle people try to do that, and it looks disingenuous. At this point, Trump is baked into everything.”
The post Republicans in Battleground Districts Don’t Want Trump to Campaign With Them: ‘We’ve Told Them He Cannot Come’ first appeared on Mediaite.