The US president will not run in next year’s November midterms, but he is entering the fray strongly, as his own presidency is indirectly at stake. According to what Reuters reports after contacts with nine Republican officials, Trump is taking calls to candidates, giving his support early, forming a campaign strategy and promoting economic messages aimed at keeping Congress in Republican hands.
Trump, as early as the summer, 18 months before Election Day 2026, has been urging Republican lawmakers considering a Senate or gubernatorial run to push for re-election to their seat to avoid a caucus, according to three separate unnamed sources, a White House official, a senior Trump adviser and a party executive.
A presidential involvement in the midterm elections, so early and at such a level, is unprecedented in modern times.
“Typically presidents recruit later in the campaign,” said Bill Galston, a former senior White House adviser to Democratic President Bill Clinton. “This is extremely unusual.”
From early on in the battle, Trump
Trump appeared to be worried after the Nov. 4 state and local elections, as exit polls showed voters punishing Republicans over the rising cost of living. In a series of meetings immediately after the showdown, Trump appeared furious with aides, arguing that Republicans need to “get on board” with the affordability message, according to a White House official. He reminded aides that he returned to the White House with a commitment to tackle inflation. As the same official told Reuters, Republicans should not cede this issue to Democrats, but highlight where his administration has succeeded in lowering prices.
Trump “has been absolutely clear that affordable living is at the center of our economic agenda,” the official said.
The cost of living continues to rise in the US, in part due to Trump’s heavy tariffs on imports. Earlier this month, Trump lifted some tariffs to lower prices on beef, coffee, fruit and other foods.
“It will certainly put more pressure on the administration to move even faster to provide policy solutions,” said a senior Trump adviser.
The White House official said Trump’s involvement includes frequent briefings, a flurry of phone calls to political allies and regular meetings where aides update him on polling, funding and surveys of voter sentiment.
Drop in the polls
Trump’s approval ratings have slipped in recent weeks, in part because voters are unhappy with his handling of the economy. His popularity fell to 38 percent, the lowest level this year, according to a Nov. 18 Reuters/Ipsos poll.
“The reality is that when a president is unpopular, it reduces the seats that his party can win,” said Doug Hay, a Republican strategist and critic of Trump.
Trump learned a lesson last week about his influence with Republican lawmakers when he was forced to back down and allow the release of Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein after an uproar from his supporters and House Republicans.
The low ratings raise uncertainty about his ability to hold Republicans together ahead of the midterm elections, particularly if voter frustration over inflation and the cost of living persists.
With an agenda of tax cuts
Trump wants party candidates to campaign on the tax relief package he passed in July, six party officials told Reuters. The goal is to convince voters that they will get bigger tax refunds from the IRS when they file their returns in April, putting more money in their pockets, thus offsetting their anxiety over rising prices.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made permanent many of the tax cuts Trump had passed in 2017 in his first term, including large tax credits for parents and additional state and local tax breaks.
The total average tax cut per taxpayer will be $3,752 in 2026, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan organization.
He wants a shield against his impeachment
For Trump, keeping Republican control of Congress next November is also about self-preservation, another White House official said. Republicans hold marginal majorities in both the House and Senate. If they lose even one of the two chambers, Democrats will likely be able to block much of Trump’s agenda in the final two years of his presidency.
Losing the House would also allow Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump for a third time. House Democrats had initiated impeachment proceedings against Trump twice during the 2017–2021 term, but both times the Republican Senate failed to vote to remove him.
