President Donald Trump is opening the final weeks of the midterm campaign on defense.
The 80-year-old president is rallying in deep-red states where Republican Senate candidates are suddenly struggling, and the strategy has some in his own party scratching their heads, reported MS NOW.
“I don’t get it,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), pointing to Trump’s recent stops in Oklahoma and Alabama, where no Senate races appear to be in play.
“I don’t think the answer to our political challenges right now is another rally,” said Cornyn, a former chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm. “The president seems to think that’s the antidote to all political problems.”
Cornyn called Monday’s stop in Grand Island, Nebraska, an exception. Trump is rallying there with Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is locked in a tight race with independent Dan Osborn. Recent polls show the two separated by only a few points, but Nebraska hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2006.
Diesel prices are above $6 a gallon in Nebraska, and Trump’s decision to temporarily suspend tariffs on beef imports has rattled the state’s ranchers. Ricketts has pushed back on the beef decision but will appear with Trump at the rally.
Trump’s swing through GOP territory reflects grim polling. New York Times/Siena surveys show Republicans trailing or statistically tied in five states where they are defending Senate seats:
- Texas: Democrat James Talarico leads Ken Paxton 51 percent to 45 percent.
- Alaska: Former Rep. Mary Peltola leads Sen. Dan Sullivan 50 percent to 43 percent.
- Ohio: Former Sen. Sherrod Brown leads Sen. Jon Husted 49 percent to 46 percent.
- Kansas: Sen. Roger Marshall and Democrat Adam Hamilton are tied at 45 percent.
- Iowa: GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson leads Democrat Josh Turek by a single point.
Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) blamed the party’s own messaging.
“We are so horrible at marketing ourselves, it’s unbelievable,” Justice said, “and now we’re having that ‘Oh you know what’ moment, where all of a sudden, all across this country, everybody’s awakening to, ‘Oh my, look what the polls are now.’”
He added that voters who can’t pay their bills will hold Republicans responsible because “we’re in control.”
A former Trump political official defended the president’s blitz, saying the White House is trying “to kind of take them off the board early” before moving on to swing states like Michigan.
Trump said, for his part, the trips are about loyalty.
“Sometimes even though you don’t have to come here, you got to pay respect to the people that have loved you right from the beginning,” he said.
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