WASHINGTON – In his final public appeal before polls open in the midterm elections, President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that history isn’t on his side.
“For some reason the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot,” Trump said at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, in a closing arguments appearance that focused as much on the pool’s renovation as his plea for voters to let Republicans keep control of Congress.
Democrats in Arizona and across the battleground map have weaponized Trump’s low approval ratings. Trump – barnstorming 20 states from Alaska to Florida over the past month – has urged voters to act as if he’s on the ballot.
Some Republicans cringed at that advice. Democrats took it as a gift; for them, Trump is the leading argument in the midterms and they and their allies have worked hard to make him a central factor in the state’s three hotly contested U.S. House races.
“Jay Feely says he’ll fight for Trump. You deserve someone in Congress who’ll fight for you,” says a TV ad targeting the GOP nominee to succeed Rep. David Schweikert, R-Fountain Hills.
Feely, the ad says, “will push Trump’s agenda” of “tariffs, more data centers, health care cuts, and a costly endless war that sends gas prices soaring.”
That particular ad is from the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, but Democrat Amish Shah has also sought to tar Feely for his support from and of Trump.
Shah “is campaigning against Donald Trump as much as he is campaigning against … Jay Feely,” said political consultant Stan Barnes.
He’s hardly alone.
Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s Democratic challenger, JoAnna Mendoza, posted Friday on Facebook that “Juan Ciscomani and his rubber-stamp friends have had every chance to stand up to this Administration, on healthcare, on SNAP, on the Iran war with no plan. They haven’t.”
Ciscomani, R-Tucson, has tried to keep his distance from Trump, despite the president’s endorsement. He skipped Trump’s Oct. 14 rally in Bullhead City, for instance. So did Feely – unlike Rep. Eli Crane, R-Oro Valley, who has leaned into his Trump ties.
Crane arrived with Trump aboard Air Force One.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Gilbert, the GOP nominee for governor, also attended the rally.
“It’s a calculation on the part of each candidate and we’ll see if it works for them or not,” Barnes said.
A week out from Election Day, Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Phoenix, needled Crane on social media, posting that he “has enabled Donald Trump’s agenda every step of the way.”
“I have noticed political advertisements highlighted Republicans’ MAGA credentials in a negative way – which I’ve never seen before,” Kim Fridkin, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Politics and Global Studies, said by email.
Trump’s approval rating fell to 31% in an Oct. 19 Reuters/Ipsos poll, his lowest level in that poll during either term.
“It’s fair to say that most (Republican candidates) … have done their level best to downplay their support of the president” and to emphasize instead local issues they hope will resonate with voters, Barnes said.
According to KJZZ, Ciscomani’s website never mentioned Trump – and the president is not listed on his endorsement page.
Before the primary, Feely’s website had a pop-up that touted his Trump endorsement, according to KJZZ. That has since disappeared, a change the campaign downplayed as routine.
Trump remains the first person listed on Biggs’ endorsement page. But, KJZZ reported, his campaign replaced “Trump endorsed” in a logo with the name of his running mate. A spokesperson told KJZZ the endorsement no longer fit in the logo when the campaign decided to add the running mate’s name.
“This is not a new phenomenon. Both parties do it,” Barnes said. “When the president is popular, you put your arm around him and you campaign together. When the president’s not so popular, you try to put some distance between you and the president.”
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