Trump Pledges to Personally Campaign in 35 Races as His Approval Hits 33%

Since Musk's America PAC disclosed its first $800,000 in midterm spending this week, President Trump has put his own travel schedule behind the same battlegrounds, telling Republican lawmakers Wednesday night he'll personally campaign in roughly 35 races before November 3.

Speaking at a Rose Garden dinner attended by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and dozens of GOP lawmakers, Trump said he'd repeat the nonstop travel pace of his 2024 run. "I'm going to take the final 30 days, and maybe a little bit more than that, because it's all about 35 races," Trump said, according to NBC News. "I'm going to go to every one of those 35 places, and we're going to see if we can get everyone elected."

Trump named specific contests he's targeting: Sen. Dan Sullivan's re-election in Alaska against Democrat Mary Peltola, and the open Texas Senate seat where Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, according to the Associated Press, reported by The Journal. Newsweek reported the America PAC filing also shows six-figure spending on the Alaska and Iowa Senate races and on Paxton's campaign, plus money in Florida's 25th District against Democratic nominee Jared Moskowitz.

The Numbers Behind the Push

Trump is doing this from a weaker position than a year ago. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released August 31 put his approval at 33%, the lowest of his political career and the third straight month at that level, according to Reuters reporting carried by WTVB-AM. Reuters ties the drag partly to tensions with Iran, which have pushed up oil prices and deepened cost-of-living frustration.

The Cook Political Report currently rates six Senate races as pure toss-ups: Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas, according to Newsweek. Five are Republican-held seats. Cook recently moved both Iowa and Texas from Lean Republican into Toss Up, citing tightening polls, which explains why Trump singled out exactly those two states by name.

Trump's operation isn't short on cash. His MAGA Inc. super PAC holds more than $400 million, with the Daily Wire citing a specific figure of $403 million reported by lawmakers to POLITICO ahead of the dinner. Separately, Elon Musk's America PAC has reported roughly $50 million in receipts this cycle and has now started deploying money directly into the same battleground states Trump named, per Newsweek's review of FEC filings.

The Pitch to Nervous Lawmakers

Trump told the room they have a winning story if they'd just tell it, according to the AP's account carried by The Journal, pointing to economic investment and lower drug prices. The AP noted Trump used "significantly inflated figures" in making that case, though the wire service did not specify which figures or by how much. Trump also touted reduced border crossings.

He drew a distinction between candidates who need him and those who don't. "If you're leading by 40 points and you've been there for 25 years, please don't ask me to come to your area and make a speech, right?" Trump said, according to NBC News and Yahoo News, which both carried the same NBC reporting.

Trump argued that midterm losses are historically inevitable regardless of a president's performance. "Whether you're a good president or a great president, you lose the midterms," he said, per the AP. "We're going to turn that around because there's no reason for it."

The Enthusiasm Problem Republicans Won't Say Out Loud

Republican strategists worry their base isn't as energized as Democrats right now, based on recent special-election and primary turnout patterns, according to MEAWW News. For a party defending narrow majorities with a president at 33% approval, nationalizing races around an unpopular president can just as easily depress swing-voter turnout as boost base turnout. Trump's own pitch leans heavily on economic claims that outside fact-checkers haven't verified in these reports.

The counter-argument, which Trump and his allies are making explicitly, is that his personal travel and rally schedule reliably outperforms generic Republican polling with the base voters GOP candidates need to turn out. Trump cited his 2024 stretch run, when he held up to five rallies in a single day, as the model he intends to repeat, according to the Daily Wire.

Trump is scheduled to headline a major RNC-organized rally in Dallas next week, according to WTVB-AM's Reuters report. Some insiders attributed the decision to concerns about the RNC's ability to draw activists on its own. The event will be the first visible marker of whether the enthusiasm gap Republican strategists are worried about is closing or widening.