President Donald Trump’s top super PAC is pulling money out of House races Republicans are increasingly likely to lose, and many GOP candidates privately blame the president for the worsening political landscape.
MAGA Inc., which still has hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank, is coordinating with other leading GOP super PACs to “trim the map” in the final three weeks before Election Day, three Republican officials familiar with the strategy told Politico.
The group and a leading House GOP super PAC are expected to pull spending out of Michigan’s 8th District by midweek, effectively conceding the race to Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, and similar moves are planned for other House races trending away from Republicans.
“Over the next week to 10 days you will see a lot of moves — a lot of coordinated moves — that are around trimming the map for the home stretch,” a senior GOP official familiar with MAGA Inc.’s plans said.
The official insisted the shift amounts to “re-allocating, not cutting,” and argued that roughly $100 million the MAGA Inc. operation spent in September kept Republicans from disaster.
“The money’s working,” the official said. “The money stopped everybody from getting killed in September when the environment rapidly deteriorated further. The money held the line.”
But many of the candidates who received that money see things differently. According to Politico, they privately argue that Trump’s poor approval ratings, his handling of the war with Iran, tariffs and sky-high fuel prices are fueling the voter backlash.
The senior official also made clear that the burden is shifting to the candidates themselves.
“It’s up to the candidates, not the outside groups” to “bring it home,” the official said.
Republicans are now defending House seats Trump won by more than 10 points in 2024, including a Kentucky district he carried by 15. In September, Trump officials believed they might need to intervene to protect Sen. Ashley Moody in Florida, though her internal polling has since improved.
Top Senate GOP groups have already stopped spending in North Carolina, where Republicans are struggling to hold a GOP seat, and have pulled some money back in Georgia. Trump officials now see Ohio, Alaska and Iowa as critical to keeping the Senate majority.
Texas remains a costly headache. Senate Leadership Fund is on track to spend nearly $200 million there to prop up Ken Paxton, and one GOP official pointed to the Senate nominee himself as the problem.
MAGA Inc. has also drawn fire from Republicans who wanted it to spend its war chest sooner. So far, the group and its affiliates have spent just over $200 million this cycle, according to AdImpact.