Republicans and the White House are seeking to ease growing anxiety around potentially widespread midterm losses following Democrats' redistricting win in Virginia on Tuesday.
Virginia's referendum could give Democrats as many as four more House seats by this fall. That will force Republicans to try to counter those gains by helping Florida's GOP-controlled state Legislature to redraw its maps.
The party already faced historical challenges as the majority party going into the midterm elections, on top of economic headwinds that have become even stronger as the Iran war wreaks havoc on the global economy.
Recent polls show that President Trump has been losing ground on not only his overall approval but the state of the economy.
In the meantime, Republicans are turning their attention to the brewing redistricting battle in Florida as a potential way to counter the Democratic win in Virginia.
"To my friends in Tallahassee: in a state that is ruby red, it's time to respond to what we saw tonight in Virginia with a redistricting plan that reflects Florida's true partisan lean -- and adds 3-4 GOP seats to our supermajority," former White House spokesperson Harrison Fields wrote in a post on the social platform X following the results in Virginia.
But that effort will not be a slam dunk. Some Republicans have expressed concerns that a Republican-led redistricting effort in the Sunshine State could endanger incumbents amid Democratic victories in recent state and local elections.
While Tuesday's win for Democrats was not necessarily considered a direct reflection of the national environment, it could lead to an outcome that could give the party the upper hand come November.
Trump voiced his frustration on Truth Social, referring to the election, without evidence, as "rigged."
"Six to five goes to ten to one, and yet the Presidential Election in November was very close to a 50-50 split," the president wrote.
Former White House deputy chief of staff James Blair took a more optimistic approach during a CNN interview Wednesday, pointing to improved Republican margins in the state.
"This is a state in November of 2025 that went by 15 points to the Democrats for governor and about 8 points for attorney general. Last night, this was a 3-point race. That's actually a 3-point overperformance of the Trump 2024 historic performance in Virginia," Blair told host Dana Bash on "Inside Politics."
"So just as a baseline for all of the Democrats crowing this morning, if Republicans perform anywhere near on average the way they did in Virginia last night, we not only add seats to the Senate, but we add seats to the House," he said.
The Republican National Committee echoed Blair's sentiment in a statement to The Hill, vowing to continue the "fight in court."
"Forty-six percent of Virginians voted Republican in the last federal election, yet Democrats are rigging the system to cling to power and silence voters they can't win over," said Kiersten Pels, national press secretary at the Republican National Committee, without sharing proof to back up the claim.
Trump, along with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), sought to galvanize Virginia Republicans in a Monday evening telerally. But beyond that effort, the president was not a major campaign presence in the run-up to Tuesday’s vote.
While Tuesday’s redistricting vote was not one of the marquee campaigns of the midterm election cycle, Trump’s lack of a major presence stood in stark contrast to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles’s comments last year, when she said the president would campaign in 2026 like it was 2024.
Trump has made a number of campaign-style trips this year, including to Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Iowa and Michigan.
But when asked Wednesday why Trump was not a bigger presence in the campaign against the Democratic redistricting effort, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted Trump’s hectic schedule as president.
"He's made his position on the result of this election clear to all," Leavitt told reporters.
Blair, who left the White House staff this month to shore up the GOP's campaign operation, told CNN the midterm strategy was not about Trump but rather the policies he and Republicans have implemented, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
"It's not about making it a referendum on the president or not. It comes down to the policies that President Trump and the Republicans have put in place," Blair said.
"We inherited a four-decade-high inflation," he continued. "Voters have memory of that, and the question is, do we want to go back to that or do we want to go forward and finish this job?"
"I believe when that's litigated for the voters, they will choose Republicans," he said.