Republicans are preparing for potentially devastating defeats in competitive races nationwide as next month’s midterm elections approach.
With losses looming, senior GOP leaders and strategists have begun assigning blame to one another—and, increasingly, to the president.
Donald Trump is campaigning aggressively, with rallies scheduled this week in Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Michigan.
But even Trump’s relentless travel and repeated appeals for voters to act as though he himself were on the ballot may not be enough to preserve Republican control of either chamber of Congress.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday found that just 33 percent of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s performance in office. Sixty-six percent disapprove, including 52 percent who strongly disapprove.
House Republicans are faulting the Senate, while senators are privately blaming Trump. His political operation has reportedly been contacting struggling campaigns directly, and vulnerable candidates have criticized their own party committees.
“If it happens, there will be plenty of blame to go around,” New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew said of the expected losses, according to Politico.
The blame game follows a series of troubling internal polls that reportedly show Republicans at risk not only in traditional battlegrounds, but also in districts once considered safely Republican.
US President Donald Trump raises his fist after speaking at a midterm campaign rally at Truist Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky, on October 17, 2026
A voting booth is seen at Yellowstone County’s MetraPark on June 2, 2026, in Billings, Montana
House Republicans are especially frustrated by the Senate map, which has forced the party to pour enormous sums into contests it never expected to have to defend.
In Texas, the leading Senate GOP super PAC and Trump’s MAGA Inc. have spent nearly $200 million attempting to bolster Ken Paxton in his unexpectedly tight race against Democrat James Talarico.
Trump has already identified whom he would hold responsible if Paxton loses.
“If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of weak and ineffective Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove,” Trump wrote Thursday on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Kansas Senator Roger Marshall is also facing Republican anger after his race unexpectedly tightened, forcing the party to spend millions defending a state Democrats have not won since 1932. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Wichita on Monday evening in an effort to protect Marshall’s seat.
“All of this money that was expected to go to the House, for the most part, is now being wasted on the Senate because they f****d up so bad,” one national GOP operative told Politico.
Other Republicans, however, argue that the central problem is in the White House.
Retiring Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon told Politico that Trump’s poor polling and high unfavorable ratings are hurting GOP candidates. Other Republicans have privately blamed the president’s tariffs and the Iran war for public anger over rising costs.
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna has instead directed her criticism at the National Republican Congressional Committee, accusing party leaders of becoming preoccupied with internal leadership battles.
“I am also getting calls from members wondering what is going on at the @NRCC,” Luna wrote in a social media post, adding that lawmakers were also asking her about the leadership races.
‘Sounds to me like some in leadership need to focus on winning races instead of gaming their next steak donor dinner,’ she added.
John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, has ruthlessly mocked National Republican Senatorial Committee consultants, telling reporters last month he trusts his own reading of the polls better than what strategists say because all they care about is ‘buying Porsches.’
Kansas Republican Roger Marshall may lose a race Democrat’s haven’t won in almost a decade
Texas Attorney General and Republican US Senate candidate Ken Paxton is running neck and neck with his Democrat opponent James Talarico after he ousted incumbent John Cornyn in the primary earlier this year
The GOP Senator also shared at the time that he plans to spend $5 million to $8 million from his own campaign war chest in states he sees as crucial to retaining a Senate majority.
Trump allies are now warning candidates that attacking Democrats may no longer be enough. They want Republicans to hammer a positive economic message and tell voters exactly how they will lower living costs.
For endangered GOP lawmakers, that realization may have come far too late.
Party leaders, however, are defiant. On a press call earlier this month, NRSC chairman Tim Scott, who runs the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, told reporters he expects his party to hold its majority and possibly expand it.
According to Cook Political Report analysis published last month, Democrats are projected to pick up at least 15 House seats and between one and five in the Senate.
Democrats need to flip four Senate seats to win control.
