A year ahead of 2026 midterms, Trump backs Scott Perry, Rob Bresnahan, and other Pennsylvania Republicans

Fallon Roth, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Nov 3, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvanians will head to the polls Tuesday to vote on local races and whether to retain three of the state’s Supreme Court Justices, but President Donald Trump already has his eyes on the 2026 midterms, when control of Congress will be up for grabs.

In a stream of posts Sunday night to Truth Social, the president’s social media platform, Trump endorsed Republican candidates for U.S. Congressional elections in 2026 in Pennsylvania and other states.

Every Republican in Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation received an endorsement, except U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate from Bucks County who has publicly differed from Trump on various issues, including voting against the president’s domestic policy package, earning Trump’s ire.

Trump’s making early endorsements for 2026 highlights the significance of next year’s midterms as Republicans and Democrats battle for control of the U.S. House and Senate. Both chambers are currently controlled by Republicans, but only by a handful of seats.

It’s unclear to what extent a Trump endorsement will be beneficial to Republican candidates next year. According to a CNN/SSRS poll released Monday, only 37% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance and a majority of respondents blamed him for economic conditions.

Trump is backing Republicans in several competitive districts in Pennsylvania, including U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, who won reelection in his Central Pennsylvania district by just 1 percentage point last year, and freshman U.S. Reps. Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan, who flipped their Eastern Pennsylvania districts from blue to red last year.

All three will be top targets for Democrats next year — along with Fitzpatrick, making Pennsylvania the state with the most competitive districts in 2026, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s midterms list.

Trump also voiced his support for incumbent Republican U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser, Lloyd Smucker, John Joyce, Guy Reschenthaler, Glenn Thompson, and Mike Kelly.

The president made similar endorsements for all the candidates. Trump declared to his followers at the end of each message of support: “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

In 2026, Democrats hope to campaign on worries about the country’s economic outlook under Trump.

Also on Truth Social, Trump laid out his endorsements for Republican lawmakers across the nation, including in Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, and Alabama.

In addition to next year’s races, Trump waded into the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention election, the highest-stakes race on Tuesday’s ballot in the Keystone State.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote that Pennsylvanians can “bring back the Rule of Law, and stand up for the Constitution (by voting) ‘NO, NO, NO’ on Liberal Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht.”

Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, have campaigned on retaining the justices as a way to protect Pennsylvanians’ reproductive and voting rights during the Trump era.

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