By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump said in an interview that he is unsure whether Republicans will retain the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Trump said that while efforts to attract more investment in the United States will help boost the economy, they may not materialize before the 2026 elections. He said he hoped the boost to the economy could occur in the second quarter of next year.
When asked whether Republicans could lose the House during the midterms, Trump said, “I can’t tell you. I don’t know when all of this money is going to kick in.”
Republicans currently hold 220 seats in the lower chamber, compared with the Democrats’ 212. The GOP also has a 53-47 lead in the Senate.
Only two presidents in recent decades have seen their party gain House seats in midterm elections: Bill Clinton in 1998 and George W. Bush in 2002.
“Even those that had, you know, a successful presidency” suffered congressional losses, Trump told the Journal.
“So that’s the only thing that fights against us. I don’t know why that is,” he said.
Trump, in part, campaigned on an economic message to propel himself to victory in 2024, including lowering gas and housing prices. Some of that messaging was intertwined with the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, which Trump said would lead to lower prices on certain goods and services.
“I think by the time we have to talk about the election, which is in another few months, I think our prices are in good shape,” the president told the Journal, adding that he has “created the greatest economy in history. But it may take people a while to figure all these things out.”
He added that “car plants, AI, lots of stuff” are seeing more investments, but “[I] cannot tell you how that’s going to equate to the voter. All I can do is do my job.”
Since the off-year elections last month, Trump and White House officials have focused on an economic message, including increased tax refunds for Americans and the possibility of sending out $2,000 payments derived from the administration’s tariffs.
When asked about the tariff case before the Supreme Court, Trump told the paper that the import taxes can still be implemented through other laws. The Supreme Court is currently hearing the legality of the tariffs under a 1977 economic law.
The president has said that tariffs are needed to negotiate with other countries, including for peace deals, and to bolster U.S. economic growth.
Trump’s remarks come as his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said in an interview that the president will be campaigning ahead of the midterms.
“Typically, in the midterms, it’s not about who’s sitting at the White House. You localize the election, and you keep the federal officials out of it,” Wiles told “The Mom View,” in an interview posted on YouTube on Dec. 8.
Wiles also noted that Republicans may face headwinds because Trump is “not on the ballot and not active” in elections, adding, “I haven’t quite broken it to him yet, but he’s going to campaign like it’s 2024 again.”
