Donald Trump is electoral “kryptonite,” according to a Republican insider.
With less than 43 days until the midterm elections, Republicans in battleground seats are scrambling to maximize their chances, leaving campaign teams to ponder whether that includes sticking loyally by their unpopular president.
“These candidates know how to read a poll,” one GOP strategist working on several campaigns nationwide told Politico. “They know he is kryptonite.”
Multiple polls put Trump’s approval rating well below 40 percent, with some dropping as low as 32 percent. Support for his economy is fading, coupled with disdain for the war in Iran.
“We’re in a bad political environment,” Michigan GOP strategist Jason Roe told the outlet. “These elections are a referendum on our government. [Trump] is the head of the government.”
There are concerns that closeness to Trump is increasingly becoming an issue for candidates in some battlegrounds.
It comes after House Republican Conference chair Lisa McClain—the party’s top House messenger—admitted that staying in lockstep with the president might not be the best play for some candidates. She urged candidates to trust their own districts.
“In a utopia, I wish we all sang from the same hymnal,” she told Axios when asked about Rep. María Salazar’s new political advert that put daylight between her and the president. “Unfortunately, not all our districts are created equally, so I have to trust the members to do what they think is right in their district.”
Salazar said on Thursday that Trump’s immigration crackdown had “gone too far,” and that “the same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
Even in places like the reliably red state of Iowa, affinity with Trump is putting safe seats at risk.
“He’s putting Iowa in play,” an unnamed House Republican told Politico.
Two service members from the state have been killed in the war with Iran. In audio obtained by Politico, the state’s Rep. Ashley Hinson was heard saying that the war will become a “political liability” if it goes on for much longer.
“Every campaign in the country right now has to balance being your own person versus how you appropriately align yourself with the president,” a Wisconsin-based strategist told the outlet. “Sometimes it’s lockstep with the president, and sometimes it’s not. And the art of this whole thing is figuring out where to break.”
Rep. Tom Tiffany is running in the state’s gubernatorial race, and despite Trump’s endorsement and their past alliance, he has shown a clear split from the White House.
He rejected Trump’s effort to rename Lake Ontario Lake America, saying “the Great Lakes are the Great Lakes.” He also opposed beef tariff relief and, after years of questioning, conceded that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
