When you have a president with a low approval rating going into the midterms, the conventional wisdom is to keep him away from competitive races.But that's not the approach President Trump and his political team are taking.The president travels to Georgia today, a swing state with a key Senate race and a toss-up gubernatorial contest.
It's the latest example of Trump traveling to states and districts with competitive races.So far this year he has already campaigned with a dozen candidates in elections seen as toss-ups.Trump's approval rating is deeply underwater — even worse than it was in 2018 when Republicans lost control of the House in a blue wave where Democrats gained a net total of 40 seats.
Facing those headwinds, presidents typically hang back and let candidates run their own races in their own districts.That's what happened in 2006 when Pennsylvania Republican Rep.
Charlie Dent faced a tough re-election."[President] George Bush understood that he wasn't going to be an asset in my district at that time," said Dent, who left Congress in 2018."He didn't take it personally.
He understood.He wanted me to win."But Trump isn't following the traditional playbook.
Earlier this year, he held a rally with one of the most endangered Republicans in Congress, Rep.Mike Lawler, of New York."Mike Lawler's fantastic," Trump proclaimed at a rally at Rockland Community College.
"He's fantastic." Loading...So far this year Trump has made more campaign-related trips than he did during the same period in 2018, during his first term in office.
At a Florida rally in May, Trump shouted out a senator and a congresswoman, both on the ballot in November, as well as his endorsed candidate for governor, Republican Rep.Byron Donalds."He's so far ahead in the polls, I don't have to ask him to come up," Trump said of Donalds.
"You know what my theory is? When you're up by more than 20 points, I don't want to waste the time, OK."He didn't invite Donalds or any other candidate up o...