President Donald Trump’s message to voters ahead of the November midterm election is “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
“I see it all the time, that when Trump’s on the ballot, they win,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Gowdy in an interview expected to air in full on Sunday. “When he’s out of the ballot, the people don’t go to vote, and I’m asking the people ... to get out and vote. Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
It’s the same message he had for South Carolina voters in the GOP Senate primary runoff, endorsing Sen. Darline Graham, who assumed office after the death of her brother, former Sen. Lindsey Graham. She was competing against Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and won the runoff by a narrow margin with the president’s endorsement.
“What I want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot,” Trump told Gowdy.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the same.
Speaking at a Republican campaign event in Texas, Johnson told voters that Trump may not be on the ballot this November, but his agenda is, the Texas Scorecard reported.
GOP to hold first-ever midterm convention as Trump’s approval remains low
Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance will be speaking in the coming days at the Republican National Committee’s first-ever midterm convention on Sept. 9 and 10 in Dallas.
Johnson told voters that Trump will “look right into the camera” at the event and say “I am on the ballot.”
“Because even though his name isn’t in the midterm, his legacy is, the America First priorities and principles are, his administration is,” Johnson said.
But Trump’s national approval rating sits at 39.9%, according to polling averages. It’s the lowest it’s been in this term and comes just behind a low approval streak in 2018 during his first term.
With just about nine weeks left until the November midterm elections, Trump and other top Republicans are trying something new.
The White House has sent emails and fact sheets detailing what they see as the president’s biggest accomplishments, titled “Trump Delivers: 14 Recent Wins You May Have Missed” and “President Trump Delivers for Texas: Lower Taxes, Border Security, and Jobs Coming Home.”
The Atlantic recently reported that Trump gathered political advisers in the Oval Office to talk about spending ahead of the midterms.
One person familiar with the meeting told the outlet, “When the issues that you typically campaign on don’t move voters — or voters are pissed off at you about those issues — the question becomes: What do you campaign on?”
Some strategists wanted the fundraising to be focused solely on the competitive races across the country. Others told the president that his poor polling numbers reflect that voters don’t know about his accomplishments and instead are focusing on all the negatives of his time back in office.
Trump then decided to order a series of television advertisements focusing on his own record to serve as a “backdrop” to the competitive House and Senate races. The ads are set to be airing shortly, put out by MAGA Inc., the president’s main fundraising arm.
In fact, according to the White House’s guidance for the president’s schedule, Trump will be participating in a MAGA Inc. dinner in Virginia on Saturday evening.
The campaign push to highlight Trump’s accomplishments mirrors what former President Joe Biden did in 2023, touting his own legislative record in an attempt to improve approval and morale ahead of his reelection campaign.
Trump in recent weeks has made several visits to Republican National Committee events, both in California and in Texas. His appearance at the midterm convention is expected to see him showcase how his administration has provided tax relief to working families, rooted out waste and fraud, and provide contrast the administration’s policies to that of the Democratic Party. The two-day convention will conclude with a keynote address from Trump.
Polling both nationally and in Utah shows that voters’ approval of Trump dropped around the time the war with Iran started in late February.
Now, locked in a stalemate negotiation phase, Americans appear to continue to be unhappy with the president, particularly as they see high gas prices at the pump.
Republicans lost 40 seats in 2018 midterms — will DSA hurt Democrats’ chances?
The pre-midterm push is critical for the president.
During his first term, Republicans lost a net 40 seats in the House during the 2018 midterm election. It’s something Trump doesn’t want to repeat, so, last summer, he kicked off a mid-decade redistricting battle starting in Texas that prompted Democratic-led states to redraw their congressional district map lines, too.
The chances of Democrats flipping control of the House have grown this year while their possibility of taking the Senate, too, is being described by experts as a “coin toss.”
If Trump were to lose the majority in each chamber of Congress, it’d make the second half of this term much more difficult for him.
He wouldn’t be able to get spending bills through for policies aligned with his administration, he’d likely be impeached, and it would put GOP lawmakers in a difficult position about who they should side with in 2028.
Democrats, however, are facing their own messaging dilemma. With the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America, traditional Democrats are hoping they can cut through the noise and have their message resonate with voters.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who would likely become speaker of the House if Democrats flip the lower chamber, is facing pressure from progressives who want him to embrace the more radical policies of DSA and fight back more aggressively against the Trump administration, but he has publicly stated he doesn’t support DSA’s agenda and would be sticking with the establishment Democrat platform.
It’s something Johnson has used to prod at Jeffries, noting how DSA candidates beat out Democrats backed by Jeffries in his own state of New York.
Johnson, whose leadership position is on the line this November, is hoping he can showcase unity within the Republican Party and the divisions among Democrats.
“It’s a fascinating thing to see the Democrat Party, they’re in the midst of, now, an open civil war. Truly, they don’t know ... what they stand for or who stands with them,” Johnson said earlier this month.