GREEN BAY, Wis. — Republican Eric Hovde has an overarching strategy in his race to win Wisconsin’s Senate seat this year: Grab onto former President Donald Trump and don’t let go.
Mr. Hovde says voters have the chance at a “President Trump and I” package deal as they ponder whether to hire him or keep Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the two-term incumbent Democrat.
“We have six days to decide which way our country is going to go,” he said at a recent Trump campaign rally. “President Trump and me are the tip of the spears.”
Ms. Baldwin, for her part, has bragged about working with Mr. Trump.
The same dynamic is playing out in Pennsylvania and Michigan, where Democratic Senate candidates have taken pains to say they’ve found ways to work with the former GOP president.
It’s a striking turnaround for Mr. Trump, who, since the heady days of his 2016 election, has proved toxic for many Republicans in tight congressional races. He saw his party lose control of the House in 2018, cede the Senate in 2020, then underperform in 2022, all under his shadow.
During that time, he saw both Arizona’s and Georgia’s Senate seats flip to Democrats, as well as a seat in Pennsylvania. Republicans also lost winnable Senate races in Nevada and Michigan.
The one major exception was Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, winning reelection in 2022 in Wisconsin.
In the losses, Mr. Trump drew blame for his outsized personality dragging the GOP candidates down.
Now, returning as the challenger to a sitting Democratic administration, voters see Mr. Trump — and other GOP candidates — differently.
“Whereas some people thought that Trump was going to weigh down the Republican ticket, let’s say six months to a year ago, I think he’s starting to pull people up, and I think he’s going to benefit a lot of candidates,” Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin Republican, told The Washington Times. “He brings out voters that don’t always come out and vote. So, in that way, he helps all of us.”
Political pros said the nationalization of elections means that voters tend to vote party-line now. So the better Mr. Trump does at the top of the ticket, the better Republicans below him do.
“How many people are going to vote for Donald Trump and Tammy Baldwin?” he said. “There is some, but there is not a ton of that out there,” said Marc Graul, a Wisconsin-based GOP strategist.
Former Rep. Tom Davis agreed.
“People now vote for the color of the jersey, not the number,” said Mr. Davis, who led the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1999 to 2003.
He also said the Republicans’ slate of down-ticket candidates has improved over the past few years.
“This time around, it is different,” Mr. Davis said. “Republicans have done a much better job of nominating candidates with real resumes.”
Democrats have been trying to adjust.
In Pennsylvania, Sen. Bob Casey, a three-term Democrat, has run ads saying he “bucked” President Biden on energy policy and “sided with Trump” on trade issues, including battling China.
Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democrats’ nominee to keep a Senate seat blue, has touted her work on a drug pricing law Mr. Trump signed.
In Montana, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is fighting an uphill battle to keep his seat by running ads with lifelong Republicans and Trump supporters saying they’ll split their ticket to vote for him.
J. Tucker Martin, who served in former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration, said Mr. Trump’s appeal remains hit-or-miss.
“With Trump, it’s like real estate: location, location, location,” he said. “He can be anything from super helpful to super toxic. The range of potential impacts is greater than with any presidential nominee we’ve ever seen.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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