President Donald Trump and his White House are influencing GOP congressional candidates and advising who to run and who to stand down as Republicans try to keep control of both chambers of Congress in midterm elections next year.
The White House is strategizing to make sure Republicans win enough seats and is putting together “a 2027 policy agenda” so Trump, who plans to join candidates on the campaign trail, can explain what continued GOP control of the House, Senate and the White House could look like, a White House official told Politico.
This strategy includes telling which Republican candidates to run for office and which to “stay put,” the official said.
For example, Iowa Republican Rep. Zach Nunn was weighing a gubernatorial run when the president told him to “stay put,” the outlet reported. Nunn this month announced he was running for re-election.
“After prayerful consideration with his family and the strong support from President Trump, Zach is more committed than ever to maintaining the Republican majority and advancing the America First Agenda,” the congressman’s campaign spokesperson said. The president has also publicly endorsed Nunn.
The president also advised Michigan GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga to avoid running for Senate. Trump instead publicly backed Senator Mike Rogers this week, saying he “has my Complete and Total Endorsement — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!”
Earlier this month, Trump met with Iowa Senator Joni Ernst to encourage her to run for re-election, Politico previously reported. Questions about Ernst’s political future swirled after her viral remark about proposed Medicaid cuts: “We all are going to die.”
“President Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican Party — just look at those who have bet against him in the past because they are no longer around,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico. “The President will help his Republican friends on Capitol Hill get reelected, and work to pick up new seats across the country.”
Democrats are likely hoping for a repeat of the 2018 midterms, when they destroyed Republicans’ trifecta by taking control of the House during Trump’s first term.
“I’m sure there’s some memories from 2018, but it’s all about these last two years of his presidency and his legacy, and he doesn’t want the Democrats nipping at his heels all the time for the last two years,” Tony Fabrizio, the pollster for Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, told Politico.
Trump has acknowledged the power he has to influence voters. He recently suggested holding rallies for candidates, two White House officials told the outlet.
The president reportedly told one of the officials last week: “We’re going to have to campaign in the states and really get out there a lot, huh? Because really, it’s just me that can pull them out in a lot of places.”
Republican strategists have said they plan to use the threat of Trump’s third impeachment, should Democrats take the House, to compel voters.
“We know what the stakes are in the midterm elections,” John McLaughlin, a Trump pollster, told NBC News this week. “If we don’t succeed, Democrats will begin persecuting President Trump again. They would go for impeachment.”
The White House also plans to use its 2024 campaign strategy as a guide, targeting young and working-class voters that came out to support Trump in droves.
“One of the main strategies is to put Trump on the ballot in the midterms,” one of the White House officials told Politico. “We’ll have a midterm agenda that we’re running on. Not only here’s what we’ve done, but here’s what we’re going to do next.”
Democrats are eating up that idea.
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin told the outlet: “The White House has the DNC’s full support in their plans to put Trump on the campaign trail with frontline Republicans to tell the American people that they took money out of their pockets, took food off their table, and took away their health care in order to give massive handouts to billionaires.”
