By Nathan Layne and David Morgan
Oct 7 (Reuters) - Two-thirds of Republican candidates in competitive US House and Senate races have broken with President Donald Trump on policy or played down ties to him, a Reuters review found, revealing a widespread effort to distance themselves from the president as his unpopularity threatens the party's hold on Congress.
The review of voting records, public statements and campaign materials found candidates in 41 of 62 competitive congressional races seeking some
distance from Trump ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
The candidates have largely criticized or diverged from Trump on individual issues rather than repudiated his broader agenda. The findings suggest an effort to attract independent voters while avoiding a direct break with their party leader.
Policy differences were the most common point of divergence, appearing in 23 of the 62 races.
In 12 contests, the split centered on the Iran conflict, with vulnerable Republicans either voting to curb Trump's war powers or calling publicly for an end to the fighting that has raised gas prices and squeezed household budgets.
Data centers are among the issues dividing Trump and some Republican candidates. Reuters identified three candidates in competitive races who have criticized or sought to slow such projects despite the president's support for faster development.
The shift is notable because Trump has spent the past decade remaking the Republican Party in his own image and has been swift to punish lawmakers and candidates who defied him through primary challenges, personal attacks or public pressure to fall into line.
In response to questions about the Reuters findings, White House spokesman Davis Ingle pointed to the administration's accomplishments and said Trump was "the unequivocal leader, best messenger and unmatched motivator" for the party.
While news organizations have highlighted individual cases of distancing, the Reuters review is the first to systematically measure the trend across competitive races that will decide whether Republicans retain control of either or both chambers of Congress.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll underscored the challenge facing Republicans: Trump's approval rating remained stuck at a career-low 32%, while registered voters favored Democrats over Republicans 44% to 37% ahead of the midterms. Among independents, Democrats led 37% to 21%.
CREATING DISTANCE FROM TRUMP
Reuters also found a broad effort to play down ties: A dozen candidates removed his name, image or endorsements from campaign websites, most after securing their party's nomination.
Others acted in subtler ways, skipping his events or declining to say whether he should campaign on their behalf.
Direct criticism was relatively rare, underscoring Trump's dominance of the Republican Party and the risks candidates face in openly challenging a president who still commands the loyalty of many ardent supporters.
Candidates distancing themselves from an unpopular president before an election is not unusual. Democrats employed similar tactics in the 2014 and 2022 elections.
While Reuters did not conduct a comparable review of competitive races in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first term, analysts said Trump has rarely faced such widespread pushback by vulnerable Republican candidates.
"(Candidates) are reflecting voter attitudes in these races," said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. "If (voters) are not with Trump, then they need to show a break."
Privately, campaign advisers told Reuters that candidates needed to dial back ties to Trump to attract independent voters. Publicly, they dismissed criticism of the repositioning.
BALANCING ACT
Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, who faces a tough challenge from independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska, exemplifies the 11 candidates identified by Reuters who broke with Trump on one policy issue while backing him on everything else.
The balancing act was on display this week when Ricketts, who criticized Trump's plan to expand beef imports, joined the president at a Nebraska rally.
"President Trump, I have been fighting for you in Washington," Ricketts told the crowd.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican in one of the country's most competitive House races in Iowa, has also shown a growing willingness to break with the administration. She was among 12 candidates identified by Reuters who split with Trump on multiple issues, criticizing his beef-import policy and later voting to limit his war powers in Iran after previously opposing similar measures.
Yet, less than two weeks after her war-powers vote, Miller-Meeks joined Trump at the White House to announce a major steel plant investment in Iowa.
"It is a balancing act," said Republican consultant Jeanette Hoffman, adding that candidates are trying to capitalize on the administration’s successes while creating some distance from Trump because of “how toxic the Trump brand is at the moment.”
SCRUBBING TRUMP REFERENCES
As Republicans in competitive races seek to expand their appeal beyond Trump's core supporters, some candidates have begun dialing back public displays of loyalty to the president.
Mike Beltran, a former Florida state representative running against Democratic US Representative Kathy Castor, is among candidates who have scrubbed prominent references to Trump from their campaign websites.
In August, his homepage featured a photo of Trump and said he stood with the president, according to the Wayback Machine, an internet archive website. Now Beltran's homepage shows only him and his family and makes no mention of Trump.
Beltran's campaign had no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment.
Representative Mike Lawler of New York, facing one of the most competitive US House races, embodies the balancing act confronting many Republicans in battleground districts: staying close to Trump while demonstrating independence from him.
Lawler has highlighted breaks with Trump on issues including temporary legal protections for Haitian immigrants and a Trump-backed proposal to restore Turkey's access to F-35 fighter jets.
His campaign manager Ciro Riccardi said Lawler acts on behalf of his constituency regardless of a president's stance.
Lawler acknowledged the disagreements in a speech to Trump supporters at the Republican midterm convention in September, saying, "The truth is that the president and I don't always agree. And that's OK."
(Reporting by Nathan Layne and David Morgan; Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)
