Megyn Kelly Says Donald Trump's Red-State Rallies Show 'the State of the GOP'

Megyn Kelly said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's late campaign swing through Texas and Nebraska is a bad sign for Republicans. She called his red-state schedule "somewhat disturbing" with less than a month left before the midterm elections.

Kelly, host of The Megyn Kelly Show, presented it as the GOP's problem rather than as an attack on Trump. But she also said voters who blame him for the economy are "right, in a way." Trump was in San Antonio on Wednesday to campaign for Ken Paxton, Texas' attorney general and the Republican Senate nominee. Kelly said he is also campaigning in Nebraska for Senator Pete Ricketts.

"The president's going to all red states, which is somewhat disturbing if you are a Republican because he shouldn't really be needed in Texas or Nebraska, or some of these other states that he's having to go to, but such as the state of the GOP." — Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly on Donald Trump's Texas Trip

Kelly said the risk falls on Republicans in Congress first and on the president later. "It's not really Trump's immediate problem. It's really the problem of the GOP, but once the House and/or the Senate go dem, it's going to be Trump's problem," she said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who faces his own close reelection race, skipped the rally and cited a scheduling conflict, NBC News reported. He also said Trump "does a good job of getting the base organized and turning out." Kelly saw it differently: "Obviously, he doesn't think it will behoove him to appear in Texas with President Trump."

Trump carried Texas by 13.7 points in 2024, according to the official results compiled by the Federal Election Commission. Today, Democrat James Talarico leads Paxton by 3.8 points in PolitiKool's polling average. Kelly played a recording published by Axios in which, by her account, Paxton named gas prices and the war with Iran as the biggest drags on his campaign.

'He Can Fix It' Comes Back on Trump

Kelly tied the GOP's slide to prices. "And they're blaming Trump. And they're right, in a way, because Trump campaigned literally with the words," she said, pointing to his slogan, "He can fix it." She said Trump made that promise about the economy "at every arena he went to," and added, "So, I mean, he said he would and that he could, and it hasn't really happened."

She also tied it to the war. "We had low gas prices. We went and fought this war in Iran, which is very unpopular, very unpopular now. The president and the Republican Party that doesn't stand up to him is getting blamed," Kelly said. Regular gas now averages $4.35 a gallon nationally, according to PolitiKool's gas price tracker. Trump's economic approval stands at 29.7 percent in PolitiKool's polling average.

Charles C.W. Cooke, a National Review writer and podcast host, went further than Kelly. He faulted Trump for telling voters they live in a golden age: "He's essentially saying mission accomplished. That's just political malpractice."

YouGov Senate Polls Show Republicans Trailing

Kelly read from new YouGov polls of likely voters in seven states, taken September 18 to October 5. YouGov's release says Republicans trail in six of the seven Senate races, including Texas and Ohio, where Democrat Sherrod Brown leads Senator Jon Husted. Of Ohio, Kelly said: "That's supposed to be a red state now, not according to these polls."

In Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed faces Mike Rogers, Kelly noted that El-Sayed has led consistently: "Now, in my experience as a political journalist, when that happens, that person wins." Florida, where Republican Senator Ashley Moody is running, was the one state where the Republican led.

Kelly wrote off New Hampshire, where Democrat Chris Pappas faces John Sununu: "That one seems gone." Of Ricketts in Nebraska, she said, "I feel like he could pull that out." Ricketts in fact leads by 0.1 points in PolitiKool's Nebraska average.

Republicans Who Doubt the Midwest Polls

Not everyone on the panel accepted the numbers. Rich Lowry, National Review's editor in chief, said that "Republican pollsters I talked to, I don't know whether they're right, but they're convinced that there's a big polling error in the Midwest because there's just no way to get rural voters to answer these polls." He added, "So some of them legitimately think, you know, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, these are mirages for Democrats."

Lowry set a modest bar for Republicans. "You lose the House and you hold the Senate. That would be a good night at this point," he said.

Control of the Senate is a toss-up, with seven races rated as toss-ups on PolitiKool's Senate map. Whether Trump's red-state rallies hold the line or confirm Kelly's worry will be clear on November 3.