President Donald Trump gestures at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump has robbed "the GOP of a chance" to put their focus on competitive midterm swing states, per Politico, as he hits the campaign trail to put out political "fires" in states he once carried with ease.
In a piece published Tuesday morning, Politico reported that Trump is set to spend the next month campaigning for Republican midterm candidates in "Bastions of conservatism — including Alabama, Alaska, Iowa, Ohio and Texas," as the party faces growing odds of major upsets. The hope is that Trump's presence will help convince his "die-hard supporters" to show up on Election Day, given the long-established trend of MAGA backers who only vote when Trump is on the ballot.
This push is not seen as an all-around positive, however, with "each trip to play defense in red strongholds robs the GOP of a chance to put Democrats on the back foot in states that are traditionally competitive." The mere fact that these stops might be necessary is exposing something the Republican Party has "feared for months: that even a gerrymandered House map and whopping cash advantage won’t be enough to save the House or Senate from Democrats."
"The problem is that the fires are everywhere right now," one anonymous GOP donor told Politico.
"On a scale of 1 to 10,” another anonymous source close to the White House said. “10. In Alaska, because of the obvious situation of what happened in the primary, and in Ohio, because [Jon] Husted is proving not to be a compelling candidate.”
Ohio and Alaska are of particular concern to Republicans, as their candidates show signs of floundering against notably strong Democratic opposition. Politico noted that Trump's planned Trip to Alaska represents "a significant commitment of time and presidential resources that underscores how dire the situation is for Republicans."
Some of these trips are also designed to help across multiple states, with Trump's stop in Alabama crossing over into a west Florida media market, and his stop in Oklahoma expected to bleed over into Texas.
"They recognize how precious the president’s time is,” a second source close to the White House told Politico. "The reality is we have more field to cover than they do. That’s just a fact. We are defending more than [Democrats] are.”
Another GOP source told the outlet that the party is in "a bad spot for a multitude of reasons," primarily including poor candidate quality, an issue that bedeviled them in the 2022 midterms as well. The source, however, also noted that Trump "definitely is the biggest culprit because of how much the trade war has affected the farmers and the Iran war has affected the farmers and rural people."
"It’s his fault," they stressed.
