US President Donald Trump points toward supporters at the end of a campaign rally for US Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in Youngstown, Ohio, US, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump has found a new way to boost struggling Republican candidates in the final stretch of the midterms – praising their looks.
For weeks, Trump has talked up GOP men at rallies for their jawlines, shoulders and overall handsomeness rather than their policies, reported MS NOW.
As the former owner of Miss Universe, he has complimented male allies’ appearances before. Lately, though, the praise has come more often and more effusively, even as polls show widespread voter discontent over high prices and the war in Iran.
At a Kentucky rally Saturday, Trump described sizing up Ohio Sen. Jon Husted.
“I never did that with a man before,” Trump said. “I examined his a--, and then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline, studied him. He’s got a jawline.”
Trump claimed, without citing a source, that Husted had “picked up like nine or 10 points” in the polls after the compliments.
The rally was for House candidate Ed Gallrein, the former Navy SEAL who ousted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in a May primary. Trump called the 68-year-old “beautiful” and recalled him walking into the Oval Office. “I said, ‘That guy is Central Casting.’”
A day earlier in Dalton, Georgia, Trump called gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson a “distinguished, beautiful-looking guy.” He called Senate nominee Rep. Mike Collins “a good-looking man.”
“And he’s all man,” Trump added.
Not everyone makes the cut, however. At a Kansas rally Monday, Trump called Sen. Roger Marshall “one of the finest people in government” but said nothing about his looks. In Dallas last month, Trump said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the GOP Senate nominee, “may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m sorry, Ken,” Trump said, before urging the crowd to vote for him anyway.
The fixation plays into a broader midterm fight over which party represents real men. Several Democratic Senate candidates have leaned into debates over masculinity, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia and James Talarico in Texas. Party accounts have posted thirst-trap-style edits of Ossoff and El-Sayed.
It all comes as polls show Republicans have lost their edge with young men, most of whom backed Trump in 2024.
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