‘Pretend I’m on the Ballot’ Is Trump’s Midterm Strategy

DALLAS — The Republican National Committee members, lawmakers, lobbyists, donors, and die-hard Trump superfans who flew out for the first-ever Republican midterm convention are all smiles in sweltering hot Texas. Publicly, at least, most insist that things are peachy keen on the political front.

“It’s historic. It’s never happened before,” Georgia GOP chairman Josh McKoon told me on the American Airlines Center convention floor, adding that there’s a “real feeling of hopefulness” about what the next two days mean for the closing argument of the campaign to protect narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate. And yet even this rock-ribbed Republican is willing to concede that the outlook for Republicans has changed since the days of Donald Trump’s historic comeback in 2024.

“Look, it’s a midterm election. We all know that in midterm elections, the party in power in the White House usually is dealing with headwinds,” he said. “But I think that this president, more than anyone else, is uniquely situated to capture the attention of the American people over the next two days and move those numbers in a very positive direction.”

Here lies the great dilemma facing vulnerable Republican candidates this cycle: Trump is convinced—and has plenty of evidence—that GOP candidates perform best in presidential election years because of his own preternatural ability to drive low-propensity Republican voters out to the polls.