Vulnerable Republicans embrace risky strategy of embracing an unpopular Trump

Republicans in swing-seat House districts are welcoming President Trump to their districts and embracing him as the leader of the party despite his underwater approval ratings.

It is a somewhat surprising move for vulnerable lawmakers who might be expected to distance themselves from the president for fear of alienating critical swing voters.

Trump is not popular, according to polls; he has just a 40 percent approval rating in the Real Clear Politics polling average.

National Republican strategists, though, see using the president’s popularity with the GOP base as a way to boost turnout and defy historical midterm trends that foretell losses for the president’s party. Republicans can afford only a handful of losses and retain their slender majority.

“We want to have the largest electorate possible. We showed in 2024 that when everybody comes out to vote in a presidential election, we were successful in Pennsylvania,” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.), a first-term congressman who flipped his seat in 2024, told The Hill.

“I flipped a seat. Dave McCormick flipped a Senate seat. President Trump won. We want large voter turnout, and so in an election like this, we know from past elections that President Trump does drive Republican turnout, and so we would like to see everybody getting out to vote,” Mackenzie said.

At a rally in Mackenzie’s district in June, Trump shouted out several other Republican congressmen in attendance who represent safe seats.

“I’m not here for them. I’m here for him,” Trump said, referring to Mackenzie, before inviting him to “run up” on stage for brief remarks and joking that no one wanted to hear from him — only Trump.

Trump also kicked off the 2026 midterm cycle with a January rally in Iowa that included opening messages from Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both of whom represent toss-up districts. Nunn’s campaign put out a video of his rally comments cut with footage of him and Trump greeting Iowans in a restaurant.

Swing-seat Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) said that Trump has a “strong hand on the wheel putting America first” at a Turning Point USA-hosted event in April where the president also spoke.

The embrace of Trump doesn’t........

© The Hill