Campaign Cash and Redistricting Shape Midterm Fight

MAGA Inc. has spent $200 million on the Republican midterm campaign, yet President Donald Trump is questioning whether that spending, along with the redistricting drive he pushed, has delivered enough electoral gains. Polls suggest Democrats will win the House of Representatives, while the Senate remains too close to call.

Trump has blamed senior aides and political operatives for a faltering Republican strategy as the party fights to retain control of Congress. He has questioned campaign spending, redistricting and candidate choices, and told supporters to act as if he were on the November 3 ballot.

Campaign Money and Political Control

The dispute over the campaign operation centers on James Blair, the longtime aide who runs MAGA Inc., and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Trump has faulted Blair's handling of campaign funds, while some White House officials and allies have questioned Wiles' oversight of the political operation.

As Trump asks why spending hasn't improved Republican polling numbers, his advisers have blamed one another. Wiles has pointed to Blair, while Blair has faulted the White House legislative affairs team, one person familiar with the discussions said. “What's really happening is a circular firing squad,” that person said.

One source said no one knew whether Trump would approve more campaign spending before the election. Two sources said Trump had pressed aides in the past week to explain why the redistricting effort he personally pushed had not produced clearer Republican gains.

Texas is a particular concern. Republicans redrew the state's congressional map to gain seats, partly relying on Hispanic voters turning out as they did in the 2024 election. Polls suggest that support may prove difficult to replicate amid cost-of-living concerns and dissatisfaction with Trump's handling of the economy.

Some Republicans fear the new boundaries could make incumbents more vulnerable instead of giving the party an advantage. “The redistricting diced up the Trump voters too much,” one source said.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and Senate candidate Ken Paxton have rarely appeared together publicly this fall, and they don't plan to campaign together in the final weeks before Election Day. Republicans have grown wary of one another and quietly distanced themselves from former allies, NBC News reported.

Voters, Prices and Campaign Spending

Trump's approval rating is at the lowest point of his presidency, with voter concern over high prices and dissatisfaction with the Iran war weighing on it. Polls showed most Americans dissatisfied with the economy and frustrated with inflation, with a majority blaming the Trump administration's policies.

At a town hall in Michigan, a woman told Vice President JD Vance that her small business was struggling. Vance said the economy might take time to improve: “I'll be the first person to tell you that just as this country wasn't broken in one presidential term, it's gonna take more than 18 months to fix things and turn them around.”

Trump gave his administration an “A+” on the economy. Asked about that assessment, Vance said the president meant “massive new investments” coming into the country, then added: “you gotta build the factories first, before you can employ the workers working in those factories.”

Democrats are campaigning in red and purple states as they grow more optimistic about winning control of Congress. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among the Democratic surrogates campaigning with candidates.

In Michigan, Ocasio-Cortez gave $1 million to help Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and a source said Sanders transferred $250,000. Sanders' transfer came amid pressure within the Democratic Party for him to use his campaign funds in critical Senate races; Democrats had specifically asked him to help in Michigan, where Republicans had heavily outspent the party on the airwaves.

“I'm not waking up on November 4th wishing I did more to combat the smears aimed at Abdul,” Ocasio-Cortez said Friday. “I'm leaving everything I can on the field.”

Pennsylvania and the House Fight

Pennsylvania is a bellwether for forces shaping the midterms, The New York Times reported. Trump won the state's electoral votes in 2024, Republicans ousted an entrenched Democratic senator, and it was the only state where Republicans flipped two House seats.

Democrats are targeting four Pennsylvania House districts that together could give them a congressional majority. The contests include a Republican defending a seat in sprawling suburbs that have otherwise turned blue, Democrats seeking to reclaim fast-growing Hispanic areas that shifted right in 2024, and white working-class voters in aging industrial towns and rural areas who have lost patience with the president's promises.

“Pennsylvania runs the whole gamut of the midterms in four races,” said Jesse Ferguson, a national Democratic strategist involved in House elections. “If Democrats can win every kind of fight there, there is no district safe for Republicans in this moment.”

Losing the House would hamper Trump's legislative agenda in the final two years of his term and give Democrats subpoena power to investigate his administration. Trump helped devise and drive some of the strategies he is now questioning, including redistricting and candidate choices shaped by personal loyalties or grievances.