WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Republican lawmakers facing tough reelection campaigns to run on his record in the White House despite his sagging popularity, and he pledged to campaign in all of the roughly three dozen contests that are likely to determine control of Congress.
Voters' dim views of the economy and the war in Iran have put Republicans in a tough spot as the midterm election season enters its final stretch.
But during a dinner in the Rose Garden, one of the spaces he has controversially renovated since returning to office last year, the president told his party's most vulnerable lawmakers that they had a triumphant story to tell voters.
“All you have to do is talk about it, and you’re going to win and you’re going to win big,” Trump said a week before the party gathers in Dallas for an unusual midterm convention.
The audience of Republican lawmakers listened quietly to Trump through his speech, occasionally offering applause as many sipped on cocktails ahead of their dinner. Menus checkered in yellow gingham called it an “end of summer BBQ" featuring cheeseburgers.
Trump talked up economic investment in the United States and lower drug prices, using significantly inflated figures, as well as diminished border crossings.
Control of Congress will come down to about 35 races, Trump said. He pledged to spend the 30 days before the election campaigning hard in those battlegrounds, recalling his aggressive travel schedule ahead of his own White House victory two years ago.
“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 said. His focus, he added, would be on House and Senate races.
He specifically listed Senate races in Alaska, where Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faces Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola, and Texas, where Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton is running against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Trump backed Paxton in this year's primary despite a scandal-plagued past, but he poked fun at his style of dress and presence on the campaign trail on Monday.
“You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews," he said. "But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps. He was one of the best in the entire country. And that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great.”
Republicans' midterm struggles, he suggested, were simply following a pattern that virtually all modern presidents have faced.
“Whether you’re a good president or a great president, you lose the midterms,” Trump said. “We’re going to turn that around because there’s no reason for it.”
