A Republican candidate quietly updated his campaign website to scrub an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Rep. James Gallagher’s campaign site features an Endorsements page with a sprawling list of politicians, officials, and groups that have backed his candidacy for California’s 1st Congressional District. But a Daily Beast review of the website found that it was updated as recently as last month to remove a reference to Trump.
Archived versions of ElectJamesGallagher.com show that Trump’s name and photo were front and center on the Endorsements page between February and June. Sometime between early June and late July, however, the page was updated to strip any reference to the president.
Gallagher, 45, took his oath in June after he won a special election to serve the remainder of the term left behind by Doug LaMalfa, who died at age 65 in January after a sudden medical emergency.
Trump first endorsed Gallagher in February.
“James Gallagher has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from California’s 1st congressional District,” the president wrote. “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
At the time, Gallagher said he was “deeply honored” to have the president’s support and endorsement.
Since then, Trump’s name and portrait had been featured prominently on Gallagher’s Endorsements webpage right under the name of Jill LaMalfa, the late representative’s widow.
Trump endorsed Gallagher once more in June, hailing him in a Truth Social post as a “very successful Family Farmer, Attorney, former County Supervisor.”
“Now, as California State Assemblyman, James has strongly served his Community with a career ‘loaded up’ with accolades and wins,” he wrote. “GET OUT AND VOTE FOR JAMES.”
But at some point between June 2 and July 22, the page was updated to scrub traces of Trump, even as the president’s Truth Social posts endorsing Gallagher have remained active.
Gallagher’s campaign and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
It’s not the first time that a Republican candidate has distanced themselves from Trump as the president grapples with record-low approval ratings.
Ralph Alvarado, a candidate in a competitive House race in Kentucky, similarly removed Trump’s name and image from his campaign website, according to an analysis by NBC News.
In July, the Daily Beast also reported that Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Mackenzie quietly updated his campaign website to get rid of MAGA talking points, including a reference to “forever wars.”
Recent polling could help explain Republican candidates’ hesitation to associate with Trump. A Reuters/Ipsos survey concluded on Monday found that the president is steadily losing ground in his own base, with only 35 percent of Republicans saying they “strongly approve” of Trump’s job as president.
Overall, the president’s net approval rating held still at 33 percent—the lowest of his presidency.
The White House previously argued that “The ultimate poll was November 5th, 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda.”
“The president has already made historic progress not only in America but around the world, and this is just the beginning as his agenda continues taking effect,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.
