ALBANY, N.Y. — A noun, a verb and Donald Trump.

Democrats are banking on the former president again being one of their best get-out-of-the vote weapons as they work to retake the narrowly divided House this year.

The party plans to spend millions of dollars tying vulnerable Republicans in key House races to Trump and his MAGA base, anticipating the likely GOP standard bearer will be a millstone in hotly contested districts.

New York in particular will serve as a test case for how far the anti-Trump message will carry as Democrats seek to flip five House seats across the state. All five are represented by first-term GOP lawmakers whose districts President Joe Biden carried in 2020.

“Trump was a motivator for the Democratic vote when he was a lot closer to normal than he is now,” New York Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs said in an interview. “As he’s gotten crazier, I think it will sound the alarm bells for Democrats, Republicans and independents across the country.”

Still, the political landscape for Democrats could be a challenging one, despite the party’s large enrollment advantage in New York. Former Rep. Lee Zeldin in 2022 came within striking distance of becoming the first Republican to win the governor’s race in a generation.

A recent Siena College pollfound Trump trailing Biden by only 9 percentage points in New York, a much closer split than Biden’s 23-point margin of victory four years ago. The same poll found Trump leading Biden in New York among Latino voters.

The dynamics will be on display in the upcoming special election to replace ousted Republican George Santos.

Trump, for now, is not expected to make an appearance in the battleground district that covers Long Island and Queens on behalf of Republican candidate Mazi Pilip. She said Friday she's not focused the presidential race.

“We are not talking here about President Trump. The debate is ongoing. I’m going to make very clear once we know who the Republican nominee is. I’m not talking about this right now,” Pilip told reporters.

Democrats plan to yoke Republicans to Trump’s record and his rhetoric, six advisers and political leaders told POLITICO.

So far, Democrats have launched Trump-themed attacks on a handful of vulnerable Republicans across the country, using billboards in battleground districts.

In New York, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plans to highlight Trump’s role in restricting........

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