Susie Wiles says President Donald Trump will hit the trail for the 2026 midterms, and the playbook won’t be business as usual.
According to Breitbart, in an interview on The Mom View, the White House chief of staff said the president will campaign to activate low propensity voters, flipping the usual midterm formula that keeps federal officials on the sidelines.
Wiles also set the scene by noting the 2026 celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary alongside the Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, underscoring a high-energy year ahead. The implication was simple: when the country is focused on major milestones, you meet the moment with a broad, national message.
“In the midterms, it’s not about who’s sitting at the White House, but about localizing the election and keeping the federal officials out of it,” Wiles said on The Mom View. That’s the consultant catechism; Wiles says the team is done genuflecting to it.
“We’re actually going to turn that on its head. And, put him on the ballot because so many of those low propensity voters are Trump voters,” Wiles said. In other words, the campaign intends to invite a national contrast and capitalize on the voters who only show up when Trump is unmistakably in the frame.
“So, I haven’t quite broken it to him yet, but he’s going to campaign like it’s 2024 again,” she added. Translation: expect a coast-to-coast push, not a quiet midterm crouch.
Wiles’s announcement came a week after Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN) won a special election for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district. The Associated Press reported the win helped Republicans keep control of a reliably conservative U.S. House district.
Yet the AP also described a gloomy outlook for the party heading into 2026, even with the hold. That’s the classic setup: a victory scored, then slapped with a caution sticker.
“Danger signs [exist for Republicans],” Jason Roe said. Sober enough—and no team gets sharper by pretending every hold is a mandate.
“Shouldn’t have had to spend that kind of money to hold that kind of seat,” Roe added. If a stronghold drains the war chest, the message and mechanics deserve a tune-up.
Wiles, for her part, offered the why behind putting Trump squarely in the frame. “This is such a great time for him to be in office. He’s such a patriot,” she said. That’s not just flattery; it’s her case for sending him center stage when the stakes are diffuse, and attention is scattered.
“For all these people he helps — he doesn’t help everybody, but for those he does, he’s a difference-maker, and he certainly is a turnout machine, so the midterms will be very important to us,” Wiles said. In other words, the bet is on coattails over consultants.
Wiles’s on-air remarks also pointed to a calendar crowded with cultural moments—the 250th anniversary, the Winter Games, and the World Cup—as a backdrop for a more expansive message. Those tentpoles draw national attention; the strategy is to meet that attention with a clear political presence.
She made it clear that the team intends to deviate from past midterm habits of localizing races and keeping federal officials on the bench. Instead, they’ll lean into Trump’s ability to rally infrequent voters and push turnout where it has sagged without him. If that sounds like a gamble, it is—high reward, high scrutiny. But it’s also a straightforward read of the recent past: when he’s not visible, the base can drift.