.S. President Donald Trump reacts in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 19, 2025. REUTERS Ken Cedeno
MAGA supporters and influencers may be hammering out optimism over 2025 elections, but President Donald Trump does not appear to be feeling it, reports the Washington Post.
“President Donald Trump has done little public campaigning in marqueeraces where Democrats are running heavily against him, keeping a distance from some Republican candidates and signaling some pessimism about next Tuesday’s elections,” said the Post.
In Virginia, Trump has tempered his enthusiasm for Republican Attorney General candidate Jason Miyares, who is viewed as the likeliest candidate on the GOP ticket to win. He’s also refused to officially endorse Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, that state’s nominee for governor.
Likewise, in New Jersey, Trump has “limited his engagement” on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli,” to an endorsement and a video rally — despite MAGA influencers and cheerleaders inundating X with statements like: “This is how you win, meet Gov Jack Ciattarelli.”
Over in California, where Democrats are pressing a proposition vote to counter an extreme mid-decade Republican gerrymander in Texas, Trump has “mostly hung back,” having just this week preemptively tried to discredit the vote online without evidence. The Washington Post reports Trump’s people have worked with California allies to raise $25 million for voter turnout, but even Republican data suggests Californians are riled enough about the Texas gerrymander to pass Proposition 50.
This is not like Trump, who has “long shown an eagerness to put his stamp” on state elections. The Post reports that while he’s also fond of “jumping in at the last minute to claim credit,” a senior White House official tells the Post that Trump has no plans to rally voters in New Jersey or Virginia in the final days of the race.
“I don’t think he likes to back candidates he knows are going to lose,” said Chris Saxman, a former GOP state delegate in Virginia who ran Earle-Sears’s transition team after she was elected lieutenant governor in 2021.
Polls show Trump’s approval ratings have dropped since he took office in January, and some Trump allies are skeptical that the base that came out for him in November will be there Tuesday. Meanwhile, The Post reports Democrats are “betting that anger and disappointment over his second term will help turn around their party’s fortunes this November and beyond,” while Republican nominees’ ads are “far less likely to mention Trump as they fight for independent voters.”
Trump’s firing of federal workers hit especially hard In Virginia, and close to half of the Democratic ads in the gubernatorial race and 69 percent of Democratic ads in the attorney general’s race make a point to invoke Trump’s name, said the Post.
Trump may not be willing to endorse GOP candidate Winsome Earle-Sears because she is a likely loser, but Sears’ popularity could be taking a whack because she backs Trump policies, if ads for Sears’ Democratic opponent Abigail Spanberger are any indicator.
Read the Washington Post report at this link.
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