President Donald Trump has announced plans to spend more than $400 million to support Republican candidates in the November 3 midterm elections, as his party seeks to protect its slim majorities in Congress. In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Mr. Trump stated that more than $300 million of that sum had already been allocated to advertising, rallies, and voter outreach efforts. “It is my Great Honor to do so on behalf of the Republican Party,” he wrote, labeling the midterms as “the Most Important Midterm Elections in our Country’s History.”
The election comes at a critical juncture for the White House. President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 31 percent, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, weighed down by public discontent over the economy and the protracted US-Israeli war against Iran. While some Republican candidates have attempted to put distance between themselves and the President, others have eagerly welcomed the infusion of cash and campaign support.
Much of the promised spending is expected to flow through MAGA Inc, a super political action committee (PAC) aligned with the President that entered September with over $415 million in cash reserves. However, the campaign finance watchdog Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has accused Mr. Trump of violating legal boundaries requiring super PACs to operate independently of candidate campaigns, pointing to the President’s public statements asserting control over the group’s expenditures. “This is money from MAGA Inc. This is my money that I control,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last month, according to the complaint.
The President is far from the only major conservative donor pouring money into the races. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has reportedly spent $366 million since last year through his America PAC and other groups. Meanwhile, newly formed organizations affiliated with MAGA Inc, such as No Going Back PAC, contributed $68.7 million in political ads in September alone, according to the ad tracker AdImpact.
Mr. Trump is currently on a 32-day campaign blitz, with planned stops in South Carolina and Iowa, as Democrats aim to leverage the President’s unpopularity to flip both the House of Representatives and the Senate. A Democratic victory would severely hamper the remaining two years of the Trump presidency.