As GOP candidates publicly disagree with the president and his favor numbers plummet to an all-time low, the mood among Donald Trump’s inner circle has worsened during the midterm elections, raising an age-old but mostly unsaid question: How can an unpopular president help his party maintain control of Congress?
Trump’s aides have privately admitted that there is little hope that he would be able to win over a sizable portion of swing voters and independents, which were crucial to his success in crucial states in 2024. Republicans used to believe they could win, but now they are more worried about losing control of the House.
Quick Fact
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| What Happened | Trump plans an intensive campaign to support Republican candidates. |
| Where | Florida, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and other key states. |
| When | October 2026, ahead of the November midterm elections. |
| Key Figures | Donald Trump, JD Vance and Susie Wiles. |
| Campaign Strategy | Increase voter turnout and support Republican candidates. |
| Campaign Funding | Republican political groups are increasing spending on competitive races. |
| Election Date | November 3, 2026. |
| Why It Matters | The elections will determine control of Congress. |
One Trump aide told news, “It’s obviously going to be f***ing rough,” adding that they think the best-case scenario is for Democrats to achieve what they did in 2022, when they almost lost control of the House but retained the Senate under former President Joe Biden.
However, according to several officials who spoke to CNN, Trump’s team is preparing an aggressive campaign schedule for both Trump and Vise President JD Vance in October in both battleground and deep-red states. This is because advisers feel that raising turnout is their only chance of holding ground, and the president can assist with that.
Trump Plans Aggressive October Campaign Blitz
Although two administration insiders stated that not all of the visits had been confirmed, Trump’s closest advisors, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, created a schedule in recent weeks that shows Trump on the campaign road for the majority of October.
He is scheduled to travel to Alabama and Oklahoma the next week, but according to a GOP official, they are “outliers” in the travel itinerary, which would concentrate more on competitive districts.
GOP Boosts Campaign Spending Amid Midterm Concerns
Additionally, advisors anticipate that the Trump-Vance campaign will assist generate funds because Republican organizations, such as Trump’s MAGA Inc. PAC, have started to lose money nationwide. The party’s new concerns about the Senate were shown this week when the Senate Leadership Fund raised their expenditure in Texas to $100 million in order to back GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton in a state they haven’t lost in decades.
Furthermore, it was unclear if the massive quantity would be sufficient to overcome the significant political obstacles that the president had mainly built, even though one Republican insider said that it was pushing the needle in their favor “some.”
Running away from Trump
On matters ranging from the Iran War to the economy to immigration, Republicans in both purple territory and even some red districts have deviated with Trump. In a recent advertisement, Republican Mike Rogers, the Michigan Senate candidate in one of the most closely watched contests this cycle, bemoaned the fact that “groceries cost too much.” We must lower pricing.
The GOP’s Senate contenders in Ohio and Iowa agreed. Trump’s war powers have been curtailed by votes cast by other Republican legislators. Texas and Florida House lawmakers have attacked the administration’s immigration policies. Campaign websites have been deleted by a number of others.
Trump’s MAGA Brand Creates GOP Campaign Dilemma
“They need to run the races they need to run, and we’re obviously encouraging them to do what they need to do,” the GOP source involved in planning said, dismissing worries about candidates distancing themselves from the president.
Much of the money being spent by Trump’s recently established organizations, No Going Back PAC Inc. and Safety & Affordability PAC Inc., which have considerably less politically linked titles, is indicative of how potentially divisive the president and his MAGA brand are at the moment.
But Trump’s political staff continues to think that one of the Republicans’ biggest advantages in November will be his capacity to increase voter turnout.
Trump’s midterms catch-22
Trump’s political organization was operating under the fundamental tenet that they could still win with sufficient turnout, according to several people involved in midterm planning who spoke to news. in an effort to reduce the percentage of “persuadable” votes required.
A GOP campaign official stated, “It’s all a turnout game.” “To make sure we’re hammering the exact people we need to turn out, the president’s political operation and the campaign committees have been exchanging data since day one.”
Trump is a powerful motivator for Democratic turnout in addition to being an amazing source of energy for his own followers.
