1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

In the House, Republicans hadn’t anticipated a fight that would expand beyond a few-dozen competitive seats. Now they’re scrambling to make up ground in unexpected races. Since the start of August, nearly two-thirds of advertising funds were spent in races with GOP incumbents. And the majority has been spent in districts Trump won by 5 or even 10 points. That amounts to 460 million dollars. It’s the same story in the Senate. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority. And most of the seats up this year are taking place in states Trump won handily. They thought the Senate map was easy. Now they’re on the defensive. Republicans are pouring cash into North Carolina, where the Washington Post reports that the party is deeply worried about its candidate running against Democrat Roy Cooper, the former governor. Cooper currently leads by 12 points. They are equally desperate in Kansas, where the Washington Post found enthusiasm fading in a state Trump carried by 16 points. The same thing is happening in Alaska, Michigan, Iowa, Georgia, and even Texas. “We need to stop the contagion,” one senior GOP official explained, when describing the midterm landscape. How have GOP candidates responded? By distancing themselves from the president. Byron Donalds is running for governor in Florida, and he has been one of Trump’s most loyal allies. But his loyalty only extends so far. Here is Donalds’ campaign website in early September. It features a photo of him and Trump. And the top slogan promises “Byron is committed to implementing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again.” That commitment didn’t last long. The photo of Trump has been scrubbed. And instead of “Enact the Trump Agenda,” Donalds has a new slogan: “Accountable, Achievable, Affordable.” He seems to have done research about what truly matters to his constituents. And it certainly isn’t Trump. Donalds probably won’t be the last Trump loyalist to make some last-minute changes to their website. When the party is spending hundreds of millions to hold seats it thought were safe, you’ll see a lot more candidates decide they’d rather talk about affordability than about Trump. It's all a ruse, of course. None of them can be trusted because they just may go back to being a rubber stamp for Trump's awful agenda after the election.