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ATLANTA — The Georgia Suite sits on the 68th floor of this city's towering Westin hotel downtown, with floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing skyscrapers and city views. From that high perch, the new chair of the Republican National Committee contemplated the high stakes of the 2026 election.
If Democrats win back control of Congress, Donald Trump’s presidency “is basically over,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters, 48, an early Trump backer from Florida, told USA TODAY. Although Trump's approval rating has fallen, it's still unclear whether Democrats can muster up enough support to re-take Congress.
Gruters and others are taking no chances.
He and the nation's top Republican leaders have been fanning out across a cavernous Atlanta hotel this week, putting more meat on the bones for their next nationwide campaign plan. While Trump may be term-limited, the president is also right there working to ensure his party remains in power and that Democrats don't win subpoena power to launch investigations or try for a third impeachment against him.
Trump has urged GOP states to redistrict to create more Republican-leaning House seats. He has trumpeted a possible executive order to curtail mail-in ballots. He is laying down an aggressive midterm strategy, and Republicans are gearing up to follow his lead.
“The president’s committed to winning,” Gruters said. “The party’s committed to winning."
Their early maneuvering has Democrats crying foul, while also trying to keep up as the 2026 chessboard rapidly gets rearranged.
"Trump has come to terms with the fact that he and his goons are going to get their (expletive) handed to them in the 2026 midterms, so they're doing everything they can to rig the system," Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder told USA TODAY as Republicans in his state advanced a new House map this week. California Democrats then quickly moved forward with their own redrawn House map to counter Texas.
RNC members at the party's summer meeting told USA TODAY that Trump is right to push a rare mid-decade redistricting. They staunchly defended the president's agenda in the face of polling showing aspects of it are unpopular, and they dug in on a full throttle MAGA midterm message led by the president’s handpicked RNC chair.
“I’m a true believer that he is an agent of change,” said Gruters, a former Florida GOP chair who co-chaired the president's Florida campaign efforts in 2016.
Riding the Trump train into 2026
Republicans from across the country gathered at the downtown Westin for campaign strategy sessions, a pep talk from Vice President JD Vance on Aug. 21 and to anoint Gruters as the new RNC chair on Aug. 22.
The confab brought blue state, red state and swing state GOP leaders together. They face different midterm equations, from the feasibility of redistricting to the level of competitive races, but were unified in one message: Trump is delivering on his promises, the party is fully behind his agenda and it’s the Democrats who are extreme.
“It’s nothing short of remarkable what the president has been able to accomplish in such a short time,” said New Hampshire GOP National Committeewoman Mary Jane Beauregard.
Democrats say Trump has pushed radical policies and is a budding authoritarian.
The opening stretch of Trump’s second term has pushed the limits of executive power as he works to overhaul the federal government, universities and leading cultural institutions. It has been marked by a disruptive trade agenda, punishment of perceived adversaries and a massive deportation effort that has been challenged by civil liberties advocates.
Beauregard said the president’s policies are “common sense” and will appeal to moderates, adding his record is “going to help us in the midterms.” She pointed to Trump’s positions on immigration and transgender athletes.
Trump has emphasized cultural issues to portray Democrats as out of touch with voters, and RNC members said that will continue to be an effective strategy.
Michigan GOP Chair Jim Runestad said Trump’s executive orders targeting “a lot of this woke stuff” have been a highlight of his second term and a record to run on.
Girding for battle
Runestad was meeting with RNC staff in Atlanta to game out everything from where to locate GOP campaign offices to voter outreach and data analysis.
Michigan has a number of competitive races that could help determine control of Congress. Trump carried the state in 2024. Runestad said the challenge will be to get his voters to turn out for the midterms.
“I’m not saying that’s going to be easy, that’s going to be a yeoman’s job,” he said.
The party in power typically loses congressional seats in the midterms, but Trump’s aggressive agenda is turbocharging the opposition, which sees an opportunity in his sagging poll numbers to at least win the House and check his presidency.
Florida model
A Pew Research Center survey released this month found just 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump’s doing, down 9 points from right after his inauguration.
Trump’s tariffs are opposed by 61% of U.S. adults. A majority think the president is hurting how the federal government functions, and more people oppose his signature legislative achievement – dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” – than support it, according to the Pew survey.
Recent economic reports also show inflation creeping back up and job growth slowing, presenting more potential challenges for the party in power.
Republicans believe Trump’s new law, which cuts taxes and programs such as Medicaid, will eventually gain in popularity as they ramp up to sell it, which Vance did with an event in Georgia on Aug. 21.
“As people understand what’s in it, they’re going to be a lot happier,” said Florida GOP Chair Evan Power.
Yet even as the party argues that Trump’s agenda will prove a winning formula, GOP leaders are maneuvering to improve their midterm chances through efforts such as redistricting.
Missouri and Florida are among the GOP-controlled states contemplating joining Texas in drawing more Republican-leaning House seats.
“It’s our turn,” David Lightner, a Republican national committeeman from Missouri, said of redistricting, adding: “The strongest will survive, and I think we feel strong right now.”
Power said a Florida redistricting push backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis could create up to four more GOP-leaning seats. Like many Republicans, he countered criticism of the effort by arguing that Democrats have engaged in their own gerrymandering, the drawing of seats for political gain.
Florida has been at the forefront of much of what the GOP is focused on for the 2026 cycle.
The Republican-controlled Legislature drew new GOP seats during the last redistricting and has pushed through multiple changes to election laws that put new restrictions on voting. Meanwhile, Florida has shifted from purple to solidly red thanks in part to a strong voter registration push by the Florida GOP that erased a Democratic registration advantage. The state’s voting restrictions are in line with an “election integrity” push by the RNC largely centered around legal actions, which will remain a top priority, Gruters said.
Florida’s shift from a swing state to a red state – Trump carried Florida by 3.3 points in 2020 and 13.1 in 2024 – occurred when Gruters was the chair of the Florida GOP and is partly, he said, why the president tapped him to lead the national party.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can Trump and the GOP keep a grip on power? A fully MAGA party prepares for 2026
Reporting by Zac Anderson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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