By Jeff Zeleny, David Wright, CNN
Washington (CNN) — President Donald Trump may be omnipresent in American politics, but one place you won’t find him during the midterm elections: starring in Republican TV ads.
A new CNN analysis shows that Trump is a bit player – often seldom mentioned at all – in a blitz of Republican messaging increasingly filling the airwaves in some of the biggest races of the year. Since the start of September, Democrats have been much more likely to invoke Trump’s name than Republicans.
Republican advertisers have aired just 12 TV ads that mention Trump from September 1 to September 15, according to a CNN analysis of AdImpact data, to the tune of about $1 million. Those spots represent a fraction of more than 500 Republican ads produced during that period, totaling more than $160 million.
It’s a striking contrast from Trump’s plea to make the midterm elections all about him, as he repeatedly tells his supporters: “Pretend that I’m on the ballot.” His near absence from GOP advertising underscores the degree to which he has become a political liability, with his national approval rating just 36%, according to CNN’s Poll of Polls.
Republican advisers tell CNN they believe the party’s best hopes of holding a Senate majority is not by touting Trump’s name in TV ads, but by defining Democratic candidates and trying to make them seem unacceptable to voters.
“The president is not the best message or our best messenger at this point,” a veteran Republican ad strategist involved in several midterm races told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid agitating the White House.
The bottom line: GOP candidates and their allies are devoting less than 1% of their ad spending to TV spots specifically mentioning Trump.
Not so for Democrats.
With a wide majority of Americans expressing their disapproval of Trump’s job performance, feelings that are even more pronounced on the economy and the Iran war, the embattled president has become a core figure in the Democratic advertising strategy to win control of the House and Senate.
Democratic advertisers have spent nearly $23 million airing 95 ads during the first half of September that mention the president, according to the CNN analysis, accounting for about one-fifth of their ad spending. The ads are designed to closely tie Republican incumbents or challengers to Trump.
In Michigan, a Democratic super PAC says in an ad about the GOP Senate nominee: “Mike Rogers, all in on the war, all in on Trump.” A similar argument is being made in Maine, with a TV spot pointedly arguing that state’s Republican senator: “Susan Collins does what’s best for Trump.”
Ads from Trump’s allies don’t mention him
After months of questions about whether Trump’s political network would fully invest in the midterm elections, a sprawling coalition of outside groups is now fully engaged and has opened a massive financial spigot. But the ads those groups are producing rarely include Trump.
Even an avalanche of spending by a new super PAC linked to Trump’s political organization – more than $100 million in fall ad buys aimed at reinforcing vulnerable Republicans – has so far failed to mention the president. The focus, instead, is on attacking Democrats.
“There’s something not right about Abdul El-Sayed,” said one of its ads against the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan. El-Sayed is a central fixture of Republican attacks this cycle in his race against Rogers, the former congressman vying again for the Senate.
“Ohio works for every dollar. Sherrod Brown works to take them away,” said another, regarding the former Democratic senator aiming to return to Washington after his 2024 defeat.
“Roy Cooper. His record is worse than you remember,” said another ad in North Carolina, where the president held a rally Wednesday night in an effort to boost former RNC chairman Michael Whatley in his Senate race against Cooper, the former governor and Democratic Senate nominee.
The new group behind the ads, No Going Back PAC, is linked to MAGA Inc., Trump’s main super PAC, which reported more than $400 million in cash on hand in its most recent FEC reports. That massive stockpile of campaign cash has been the subject of intense scrutiny by Republicans, anxious about allocating resources across a competitive midterms landscape.
No ads have yet been detected that amplify Trump’s call for a $5,000 payout to be made to every American adult if Republicans win the midterms.
And for all of the bold pronouncements the president makes during campaign rallies, including an often-made contention that the American economy is the “hottest in the world,” there are no such claims being amplified in TV ads paid for by his own top political allies.
The Republican ad strategy is more nuanced
While most presidents distance themselves from midterm elections to avoid nationalizing the races, Trump is doing the opposite. He’s all in, firing up loyal supporters and fierce critics alike.
But the Republican advertising strategy underscores a far more nuanced conversation underway about the party’s best chances of minimizing the prospect of a Democratic wave in November.
While Republican campaign ads largely avoid explicit mention of Trump, many GOP advertisers have pressed to highlight key policy achievements, particularly related to tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
According to AdImpact data, Republicans have aired more than 200 ads about taxation so far in September, spending more than $70 million – about two-fifths of its ad budget in that stretch.
“We eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and cut taxes on Social Security,” says Rep. Ashley Hinson, the GOP nominee for Senate in Iowa, in one of her ads. In another spot, she points to working “with President Trump to take on health insurance companies” to lower costs but also pledges to work “across the aisle” to get results.
“I fought alongside President Trump to pass the biggest tax cuts for working families in American history,” Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch says in another ad.
Republican candidates are seeking to energize the president’s base without alienating voters frustrated with the country’s direction under full Republican control in Washington.
To be sure, there are some battleground Republicans seeking to buck the trend, banking on the potential upside of embracing the president.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who is locked in one of the most competitive House races in the country against Democratic challenger Cait Conley, ran an ad featuring his work with Trump on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to raise the SALT deduction – a key concern for voters in his district – including clips of Trump praising him at a rally.
Lawler also spoke at the Republican midterm convention in Texas last week despite several of his battleground peers skipping the event. He is among the Republicans who are trying to walk a careful line of supporting the president, while showing independence.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to get things done,” Lawler said in the ad that shows the president. “I had to take on the left and the right.”
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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