Trump vows bigger GOP majorities for November amid warning signs

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President Donald Trump predicted the GOP will win larger congressional majorities after November’s midterm elections, telling Republicans that he and the party will keep campaigning even as internal warning signs have begun to emerge. The remarks came at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner in Washington, where Trump also sought to frame the Iran conflict and its domestic spillover as manageable ahead of Election Day.

Before Trump took the stage, House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled that the party’s fate in November hinges on Trump, presenting him with what Johnson called the “very first America First award.” Trump acknowledged the “long odds” facing incumbent presidents in midterms, but he said the strategy is to fight through November for every Republican candidate and deliver expanded control in both chambers.

In the middle of that message, political and electoral setbacks cropped up in Trump’s own orbit. This week, a Florida special election in a district that includes his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach flipped to Democrat Emily Gregory, underscoring the risks Republicans face even within states tied to Trump’s political brand.

Trump also faced pointed questions from within the GOP about the Iran war’s direction and how it is being communicated in Washington. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said her constituents want answers about the path forward in the conflict, including whether Trump will deploy troops there, and she complained that Congress and the public messaging are “lacking right now.”

As Trump continued to emphasize records in Wall Street performance and low gas prices that he said evaporated after the Feb. 28 U.S. and Israel strikes, he also argued that the current economic jolt would not last. He said he understood the impact on the U.S. economy, but he described the attack as necessary, saying “We had to cut out the cancer” and arguing that Iran—with a nuclear weapon—was what he said the action removed.

At the same time, a poll released Wednesday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 59% of Americans say U.S. military strikes in Iran have gone too far, and 45% said they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months. The AP-NORC survey result also showed a sharp rise from an earlier AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection, when 30% said they were extremely or very concerned about gas affordability.

Trump’s economics and messaging posture also encountered broader cost-pressure indicators described in the report. The article said the average gas price rose to $3.98, citing AAA, and it said higher prices at the pump tend to cascade through the economy into grocery and other services. It also cited a labor-market weakening narrative, including that employers cut 92,000 jobs last month, while noting that inflation expectations and interest-rate pressures affect borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business financing.

In Washington, Trump also addressed how he believed the war is being perceived by the public, and he argued that media coverage portrays the U.S. as losing while his administration has framed the effort differently. In the dinner remarks, he told the crowd that if viewers “listen to the news,” they would think the U.S. is losing a war in Iran, rather than “decimating the other side,” and he said the U.S. has not been adequately reflected in reporting.

Outside the Iran fight, the dinner occurred during another political headache: a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for five weeks and has contributed to disruptions at major airports. The White House blamed congressional Democrats for blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security, while the report said those efforts have stalled as Democrats push for restrictions on enhanced immigration enforcement operations.

Several Republicans connected the airport problems directly to that funding impasse. Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri, speaking after a news conference at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport that focused on the shutdown, said “The American people are tired of the chaos. They’re tired of the excuses. And they’re tired of watching Washington fail,” and Trump also said the underlying dynamic was that Democrats “want chaos.”

Still, some Republicans urged caution about drawing political conclusions too early from the Iran war’s early effects and the shutdown disruptions. Rep. Nick LaLota said voters in his Long Island-based district are concerned about affordability and safety but he also said the Iran war means “the president is right to think about America’s long-term security,” adding that the campaign may be best served by a wait-and-see approach leading up to November.

Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, similarly argued that it was too early to jump to conclusions, saying the president has said the conflict would be short and he expects voters will treat the gas-price increase as temporary. Hudson said the dinner raised $37 million for the House Republican campaign committee and that it bolstered record fundraising for the committee, while Trump echoed that theme by boasting about the money raised and telling the crowd, “I think we’re going to have a great election.”