'Anxious' Senate Republicans send Trump flashing-red warning about midterms

President Donald Trump with Sen. John Thune and First Lady Melania Trump on January 8, 2025 (Office of Senator John Thune/Wikimedia Commons)

Senate Republicans are “anxious about the midterms," and “the mood is shifting” among GOP leaders who once assumed they could coast to victory in November, Politico reports.

Politico spoke with 10 Republican senators and aides, many of whom "are now openly predicting a tough battle to hold onto control,” thanks in large part to President Donald Trump’s policies.

Their party is struggling “to keep the focus on affordability policies that lawmakers want to make the centerpiece of their midterm campaign,” Politico explains, as Trump wages an unpopular war in the Middle East that comes with rising oil prices and potential downstream impacts to the U.S. economy. “The Senate passed a major housing bill this week but it faces an uncertain future in the House. Trump himself told Republican lawmakers Monday that housing is not a top concern for voters,” the report adds.

Trump ally Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told Politico he’s “glad he’s not on the ballot” as “Republican senators [warn] that the party writ large needs to hammer home cost-of-living measures.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), another Trump supporter, acknowledged “prices are high,” and told Politico he hopes Republicans will “take some votes to lower the costs.”

Trump, meanwhile, has set his sights on passing the SAVE America Act, an effort to overhaul U.S. elections and "institute tough new citizenship and photo ID requirements in order to cast a ballot,” Politico reports. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune is locked in conversations with the White House, and Thune has warned the president his chamber does not have the votes to pass the bill.

The president has even demanded Republicans nuke the filibuster to ensure passage of the SAVE America Act — but just last week, Thune had to deliver some “not so good news” to Trump on his demand.

“The votes aren't there to nuke the filibuster,” Thune explained. “It's just a reality. … The math doesn't add up.”

“Voting on the SAVE America Act is something we will do, but passage is not guaranteed,” he added. “I just wouldn't assume that that's going to happen.”

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