Donald Trump shakes hands with his senior advisor Susie Wiles as he speaks in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump's schedule of public events has thinned out during his second term, but according to The Hill, he might soon be out campaigning "like it's 2024" as the GOP faces growing headwinds in 2026, if one of his top officials has anything to say about it.
Susie Wiles currently serves as Trump's White House chief of staff and previously worked as co-manager of his 2024 reelection campaign, alongside Chris LaCivita. On Monday, she gave an interview with conservative online talk show, The Mom View, where she touched on the forthcoming midterm elections, claiming that Trump would be much more actively campaigning for them and blaming recent GOP electoral stumbles on the lack of his presence.
“Typically, in the midterms, it’s not about who’s sitting at the White House," Wiles said. "You localize the election, and you keep the federal officials out of it. We’re actually going to turn that on its head and put him on the ballot because so many of those low propensity voters are Trump voters.
“We saw a week ago Tuesday what happens when he’s not on the ballot and not active,” she continued. “I haven’t quite broken it to him yet, but he’s going to campaign like it’s 2024 again.”
Wiles was most likely referring to the Tennessee special election held last week to fill a vacant seat in Congress. While Republican Matt Van Epps ultimately won the race, he only bested Democrat Aftyn Behn by 9 points in a deep-red district that went for Trump by 22 points in 2024, indicating a major voter swing away from the GOP.
This swing was also evident in the resounding off-year election wins for Democrats in places like New Jersey, Virginia and New York. Candidates in these races consistently campaigned on economic and affordability issues, which voters increasingly believe Trump is doing little or nothing to address.
All these trends have Republican officials and pundits concerned that the midterms will deal the party significant losses, handing Democrats a majority in the House, at least, and potentially the Senate as well. A new majority in at least the House would prove a major roadblock for Trump's agenda in the last two years of his presidency, and could potentially see him impeached for a third time.
