Some of former President Donald Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill and on K Street are privately expressing concerns that the Republican presidential nominee has made some recent strategic errors, including his travel schedule, that are resulting in a tighter race than initially expected.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump remain deadlocked according to recent polling, with a little over a month left until Election Day. A new national poll from the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Siena College found the two candidates were tied at 47%, according to voters polled Sept. 11-16. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
In the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, largely seen as critical for the victory of either candidate, Harris leads 50% to 46%, with the margin of error being plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
The razor-thin margins have some sounding the alarm over the campaign’s strategy. Trump took his message on Wednesday to Long Island for a rally in a deep blue state where Harris is leading by double digits to boost Republicans in the House facing tough reelection fights. He also visited Washington, D.C., on Thursday in speeches aimed at addressing antisemitism.
Last Friday, he traveled to his Ranchos Palos Verdes golf club in California for a press conference where he labeled Harris as a communist and portrayed the state of California as a hellscape that has been destroyed by liberal politicians.
“I would say, with limited resources of time and treasure. Swing voters and swing states should be the priority 99 out of 100 times,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), speaking to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
Some prominent Republican strategists also pointed out that the travel schedule recently doesn’t reflect how close the race has become.
“Look, I think it’s perfectly fine to travel to New York, D.C., California when you’re running away with the election, but that’s certainly not what is happening here,” said one GOP strategist with experience working on presidential campaigns. “Time is running out and I think Trump needs to exclusively be stumping in critical battleground states for the next seven or so weeks.”
“Many of us in GOP circles appreciate seeing a presidential candidate attempt to boost vulnerable candidates like he was trying to do in New York, but I think he needs to focus on his own race right now,” the person added.
Other loyal Trump allies disagree and have a different take on Trump’s recent strategy.
“He has a pretty big megaphone, so the time he spends in New York doing events in New York spill over into the Philadelphia market. So I’m OK with that,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). “He has such boundless energy that he can do multiple big town hall events in a single day and still get up the next day and is as fresh as a daisy. I don’t know how he does that.”
“If he’s being spread too thin in terms of his level of energy, I’m sure they will put him only in swing districts, but until that happens, he’s got room to roam,” Lummis added.
Trump plans to travel to Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday and Indiana, Pennsylvania, on Monday for rallies. With voters in some states already receiving mail-in ballots, some GOP insiders are urging Trump to stay on message, hitting the Biden-Harris record on the border, inflation and world events.
“He’s going back to Pennsylvania, which is arguably the most important state in this race and he has to be able to hone in and drive a clear message,” said a former Senate Republican leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Energy in particular is an incredibly important issue for Pennsylvania. The question is can he stay focused on that.”
Instead, the campaign has focused on questionable claims about pets eaten by illegal immigrants in the days following the presidential debate in which some Republicans aired concerns that Trump appeared “unprepared.”
“He’s been getting sidetracked so often and it’s been happening ever since Harris got into the race,” the person added. “This is not a campaign management issue, this is a candidate issue, and only Donald Trump can control what comes out of his mouth.”
Jewish leaders and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voiced concerns with comments Trump made Thursday asserting that “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with” his loss if Harris were to win on Election Day in comments he made on Thursday afternoon at a campaign event about “fighting antisemitism in America.”
“I’m just really not sure how preemptively blaming Jews for a potential election loss helps you win over their support,” questioned a different GOP strategist based in Washington, D.C., on Friday. “It’s ironic because this is actually a form of antisemitism that he began perpetuating at an event that is intended to fight antisemitism.”
In the weeks since the assassination attempt on Trump’s life at a rally in Pennsylvania, he’s been constrained by growing security precautions, according to reporting from the Washington Post. Events have taken longer to plan in the wake of security concerns which have “interfered with the way we’d like to campaign,” according to some advisers.
While some Republican circles are internally airing frustration with Trump’s prolonged focus on issues that don’t appear to be winning over battleground state voters, many are publicly voicing confidence in Trump’s campaign team.
“They’ve got some real professionals helping him and so I’m sure they know better than I do, what they need to do to win, so I just hope they do win,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is running to become the next leader of Senate Republicans after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) steps aside in November.
Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant based in Michigan, said simply, “Trump is going to be Trump,” and downplayed the impact of what some consider his most recent missteps.
“By now, at this point in 2024 and nine years after Trump first ran for president, we need to accept that Trump is going to be Trump. He’s unchangeable,” said Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant based in Michigan.“I’m not sure there are any undecided voters at this point. If you haven’t made your mind up by now, you probably aren’t voting.”
“With absentee and early mail-in ballots dropping in multiple states, we are now beyond the persuasion phase of the campaign. The remainder of the calendar between now and the nominal election day is about turnout,” Lennox added.
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Still, some Republicans are pointing out that Trump is still benefiting from a better political environment than Harris and is facing an incumbent administration that is unpopular.
“This is very much a winnable race for Trump. He needs to hone in on making [Harris] own the Biden-Harris record, and he has to be very clear about that and talking about issues that directly impact what voters say they care most about, which is inflation and the economy,” said the leader of a center-right Republican organization in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
