Analysis | GOP works to play offense in 2026

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : At Kennedy Center, Trump envisions remaking Honors, suggests he could host.
56% : "Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains," Trump said in a social media post yesterday evening.
50% : "There is a coalition that swept Donald Trump into office and obviously the work for those in Congress -- and which he will help them with -- is bringing that sort of Trump coalition to be more of a Republican coalition in the midterms," Blair said.
50% : The NRCC is also targeting Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whose district on the border with Mexico went from voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016 by 19 points to supporting Trump last year by seven points.
48% : Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Fox News yesterday that Republicans "don't have to turn out all the Trump voters from the last election" but are especially focused on demographic groups where Trump has expanded the GOP tent.
48% : That list includes all 13 seats currently held by a Democrat in districts that Trump carried last year.
47% : Trump promised his administration would release approximately 80,000 pages related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy this afternoon.
46% : But he added that Republicans will need to recruit a candidate who could run a couple of points ahead of Trump.
46% : One of the House Democrats whom the NRCC has targeted three times now, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), emphasized how he has prevailed with Trump on the ballot and off the ballot.
43% : Trump carried both those states in 2016 and 2024. Democrats have so far been mostly dismissive of the GOP boasts about expanding the midterm map.
42% : "I think the key is, Donald Trump has built a coalition like none other in American history -- with young voters, Hispanic voters, African American voters -- and so our job is to communicate with those voters," Hudson said.
41% : But they're also aware that in recent years their party hasn't always met expectations when Trump isn't on the ballot to drive up GOP turnout.
41% : What we're watching Trump Trump is expected to speak by phone this morning with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
40% : Trump is otherwise scheduled to sign executive orders at 3:30 p.m. in the Oval Office.
38% : "Last cycle with Trump on the top of the ticket they outspent us more than 2-to-1 and turned up empty handed," Gonzalez said in a statement.
25% : Trump has a new target in his campaign against Biden: The autopen.
17% : With Democratic Sens. Tina Smith (Minnesota) and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) not running again, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has prioritized both states -- neither of which Trump has ever won -- and even called the contest in the Granite State a "toss-up.

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