Donald Trump · Republicans · US Senate · Wired
This Is What the GOP’s Final Midterms Push Looks Like
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Republicans are spending the final week ahead of the midterm elections defending historically red Senate seats that have suddenly become competitive, according to federal filings and .
Key facts
- SLF also spent nearly $3 million in Nebraska to help Republican incumbent senator Pete Ricketts, who has been behind in some polls, and in Mississippi, the fund put under $1 million toward Republican
- In total, in the penultimate week of the campaign, the Senate Republican–aligned Senate Leadership Fund spent $14 million across those four states, according to a WIRED review of federal filings
- But the last-minute spending is also coming in places like South Carolina, where SLF spent another roughly $5 million to help incumbent Darline Graham, who has struggled to galvanize Trump's base
- Trump operatives say Kansas has been a major headache since the start of October, when Trafalgar Group, a GOP pollster, found Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton one point ahead of incumbent GOP
Summary
A significant focus is now on four Senate races in Kansas, South Carolina, Nebraska, and even Mississippi, all traditionally red seats, in what’s an ominous development for Republicans in their effort to at least keep control of the upper chamber. Trump operatives tell Inner Loop that they do not expect Democrats to win those Senate seats and that they have mainly directed GOP outside groups to spend there to help boost incumbents that only have a narrow lead. But the operatives also concede that they are having to divert an increasing amount of resources to those states—states that president Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024 and where Republicans never dreamed of having to spend tens of millions of dollars.