Republicans Urge Trump to Hit the Campaign Trail Amid Midterm Concerns
Following a month of disheartening electoral results, Republicans are increasingly pressing President Donald Trump to take his campaign efforts on the road next year, especially with control of Congress hanging in the balance.
In an illustration of their growing apprehension regarding Democrats’ revitalized fervor, requests for Trump-led rallies are beginning to flood in. Wisconsin GOP Chair Brian Schimming emphasized that Trump’s team is “certainly aware” of the desire for him to visit the state in 2024, where he narrowly secured victory. The party is now defending two contested House seats while attempting to win statewide races. Schimming plans to reiterate his request during a visit to Washington this week. In Tennessee, with Democrats aiming to flip a House seat in a special election next month, Republican candidate Matt Van Epps has formally requested an in-person rally from Trump in a district he won by a substantial 20-point margin last year. (Trump did, however, hold a tele-rally for Van Epps last Thursday night.) Additionally, Rep. Derrick Van Orden has expressed his desire for Trump to join him in campaigning in his western Wisconsin district next year.
Historically low turnout is a chronic issue during non-presidential election years. Republicans acknowledge that while Trump, whose approval ratings are currently unfavorable, could pose risks, he remains an unparalleled motivator for the MAGA base, as noted by interviews with eleven Republican Party chairs, officials, and operatives across the Rust and Sun Belt regions. They argue that Republicans need to ramp up voter outreach efforts heading into the midterms, where Democrats require just a net gain of three House seats to reclaim control of the lower chamber. They view Trump as their secret weapon, capable of drawing crowds with his signature rallies, endorsements, and substantial campaign financing.
Contrast this with Trump’s recent reluctance to actively support Republican candidates during this month’s off-cycle elections. He later attributed the party’s staggering defeats to “poor candidate quality,” conveniently skipping appearances in New Jersey, where GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli was projected to lose by a narrow margin but ultimately suffered a significant defeat. He also failed to mention Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, who lost by nearly 16 points, and lagged far behind California Governor Gavin Newsom’s fundraising machine that successfully backed a Democrat-aligned redistricting measure.
Now, even as the Republican Party grapples with internal strife over the release of documents linked to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and as state-level Republicans push back against Trump’s redistricting initiatives, the party continues to clamor for more of his involvement.
“Trump is the ace in the hole,” stated Tom Eddy, the Republican chair in Erie County, Pennsylvania—an essential presidential bellwether that Trump won in both 2016 and 2024 but where Democrats recently claimed significant local victories. “It’s a matter of which party is more motivated. And right now, obviously, the Democrats are.”
A Republican strategist focused on North Carolina races, who preferred to remain anonymous to speak candidly, painted a grim picture of the party’s prospects, especially with Democrat Roy Cooper poised as the party’s best chance to flip a Senate seat next year. “Any Republican not preparing for a turnout challenge in 2026 is whistling by the graveyard,” the strategist warned. “If Trump is on the ballot, Republican turnout is robust; if he’s not, it plummets. There’s an entire group of voters who are Trump supporters, but only when Trump is on the ticket. It appears there’s no effective way to draw them to the polls otherwise.”
James Blair, Trump’s top political director, asserted during a post-election episode of POLITICO’s “The Conversation” that the president will take a more active role in the upcoming midterms. Trump has already endorsed a majority of House incumbents and many Senate candidates, although he has yet to streamline the field in Texas, Georgia, and New Hampshire, where contentious primaries are underway. Two of his key political operatives—Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and pollster Tony Fabrizio—are currently advising campaigns nationwide.
“By engaging heavily in campaigning next year and allocating resources to the right districts and candidates,” Blair argued, Republicans can tackle their turnout challenges, which he believes are “overcomeable.” However, he cautioned that success shouldn’t rest solely on Trump’s shoulders, noting, “The president will campaign extensively to mobilize voters, but candidates themselves must also connect with these constituents.”
Despite Trump’s recent hands-off approach, Republicans dismissed concerns about his lack of campaigning in states where he’s not particularly popular. They noted troubling signs in the margins: turnout data indicates Republicans lost traction in areas that overwhelmingly supported Trump last year, suggesting that his base was less inclined to vote in non-presidential years.
For instance, in Virginia precincts where Trump secured at least 80 percent of the vote in 2024, turnout for this year’s elections dipped below 70 percent of the previous year’s levels, according to a POLITICO analysis. Across the state, the overall turnout figure stood at 77 percent. In Buchanan County, where Trump garnered over 85 percent of the vote, turnout for the gubernatorial election plummeted to under 60 percent of prior levels. Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger captured approximately 73 percent of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s vote total, while GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears managed to secure only 57 percent of the votes Trump received.
Republicans attributed these results to Earle-Sears being a weak candidate and typical opposition swings in off-year elections. However, as Trump himself has hinted, the outcomes indicate that Republicans have yet to devise a strategy to replicate his coalition when he isn’t on the ballot.
Republican officials and operatives maintain that Trump remains the “biggest base motivator” at their disposal, underscoring his unique position and the uncertainty surrounding who else in the GOP could galvanize his MAGA movement. “We need to clearly communicate the stakes,” Schimming acknowledged, recognizing the challenge of engaging irregular voters.
Republicans in key battleground states are now working to remind their constituents of the economic struggles under the Biden administration, warning that Democratic control of even a single chamber of Congress could lead to investigations that distract from—and potentially derail—Trump’s agenda.
They are also promoting early voting as a means to engage lower-propensity voters and keep them involved outside of presidential cycles, even as Trump attempts to terminate the practice.
Interestingly, Republicans concede that some candidates might benefit from distancing themselves from Trump on unpopular policies, such as cutting healthcare benefits and imposing tariffs, in a midterm election that will serve as a referendum on his second term. This concern echoes back to 2018, when Democrats gained 40 House seats in a backlash against Trump’s administration.
After Democrats capitalized on affordability messaging in last week’s elections, Republicans acknowledged the need to focus on cost-cutting initiatives. To that end, the White House outlined in a memo how the administration is working to lower prices.
Some Republicans have suggested that Trump should minimize his focus on grievances, like investing millions from his political operation into primarying GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in a secure Kentucky seat due to the lawmaker’s opposition to Republicans’ expansive legislation and his push to release the Justice Department files on Epstein. “Don’t waste your time going after Thomas Massie,” advised Todd Gillman, a Republican Party district chair in Michigan, where the GOP aims to secure the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Gary Peters while also holding onto Rep. John James’s seat, which he is vacating to run for governor. “Instead, come to Michigan and fight for John James’s seat to prevent us from losing it.”
Jessica Piper, Elena Schneider, Andrew Howard, Sam Benson, and Liz Crampton contributed to this report.
