The midterms are looking increasingly nasty for Republicans unless they can find a way to stop the bleeding with less than 40 days until the midterms.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Friday shifted 15 more House seats in the Democrats’ favor in the final stretch of campaign season.
Now Donald Trump is rushing down to campaign in some of the reddest states in the country as Republicans in competitive districts flee the president’s side.
Not one rating shift moved in Republicans’ direction, as momentum remains squarely with Democrats. The deteriorating situation for the GOP has left MAGA freaking out.
Among the latest race shifts, three seats went from “Lean Republican” to “toss-ups,” including North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, Texas’ 15th congressional district and Florida’s 22nd congressional district.
Two seats went from “toss-ups” to “Lean Democrat,” including the open Arizona 1st congressional district and GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s seat representing New Jersey’s 7th congressional district.
Six seats also went from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican,” like MAGA Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s seat in Florida. Another four seats shifted from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.”
That means 208 seats favor Democrats, 205 favor Republicans, and 22 are toss-ups, despite GOP efforts to redistrict in multiple states to help them and a massive campaign war chest.
The Cook Political Report expects Democrats to pick up between five and 15 seats, giving them the House majority in 2027.
A growing number of Republicans in competitive races broke with Trump this week as they desperately attempt to save themselves from his increasingly toxic brand.
The president is still hitting the campaign trail next week, but where he’s headed indicates he’s anything but a hot commodity in the biggest battlegrounds.
The Republican National Committee announced that Trump will hold a midterm rally in Durant, Oklahoma, next Thursday and another in Mobile, Alabama, next Friday, where none of the races are considered very competitive.
The president won Alabama by more than 30 points less than two years ago, and not one House seat in the state is truly competitive, but the RNC claims the rallies will help drive statewide turnout in the GOP stronghold.
Trump won Oklahoma by more than 34 points in the 2024 election. All five House seats in the state are ranked “Solid Republican.”
However, the RNC claimed the visit to the southern part of the state will help boost the GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Mazzei there, as well as Republicans running in nearby Texas.
A White House official vehemently pushed back on Republicans fleeing Trump, claiming there is absolutely no distance between them and pointing to the president’s list of travels this year to states as well as the GOP midterm convention.
While Trump traveled to the battleground state of North Carolina just last week, his hand-picked GOP Senate candidate there, Michael Whatley, appears to be increasingly underwater as he sticks by the president’s side.
Multiple Republican candidates took the stage over two days in Dallas for the convention, but most candidates in battleground races stayed away.
Republicans in states that have largely been red have also been breaking with the president in larger numbers this week.
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall suddenly raised some concerns over ICE in his state as his race becomes increasingly competitive. Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds cut mentions of Trump’s endorsement from his campaign page.
It comes as poll after poll has shown the president’s approval at a record low as his war with Iran drags on and Americans struggle with soaring costs.
