Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters said Wednesday in a press release that he is “cautiously optimistic” the GOP will hold its House and Senate majorities next November.
He said that strong voter turnout operations and President Donald Trump’s direct involvement give Republicans the edge to win in the 2026 midterms.
Gruters, speaking to Breitbart, said Republicans are unusually well-positioned for a midterm cycle, crediting Trump directly for sharpening the party’s discipline and message.
Gruters said the president’s personal focus on election integrity and the mechanics of turnout is resetting traditional expectations.
“We’re two and 39 in off-cycle elections … that’s the incumbent party in charge of the White House,” Gruters said. “But the difference is we have a president that’s as committed to winning as they get.”
“All the guy does is win,” he said. “He’s a winner across the board, and I think that the candidates are going to be able to ride on his back all the way through the midterms.”
Gruters pointed to Trump’s policy record as the engine behind GOP optimism.
“If you look at what he’s been able to accomplish over the first 250 days … no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, an additional child tax credit, all the small business advantages we got in terms of depreciation, expensing, and helping these businesses across the country,” Gruters said.
He also emphasized Trump’s foreign policy.
“Then you look at the fact that we have the president of peace deals,” Gruters added.
Gruters said law and order remains central to GOP outreach in major cities, where Trump has intensified direct engagement.
“Now you have the fact of his efforts to go in and clean up the cities, from a law and order perspective,” he said.
The RNC chair said the strategy has become highly mechanical.
“From a strategy standpoint, it’s very simple,” Gruters said. “From a party standpoint, we’re going to focus on the fundamentals, and that’s registering voters, turning voters out, and protecting the vote.”
He said election integrity remains Trump’s top internal priority.
“Election integrity is by far what the president talks to me most about, and he’s trying to make sure that we get everything right,” he said.
Gruters said the RNC is involved in 92 active lawsuits nationwide, targeting voting rules and ballot access.
“We used to play more of a reactive game, but now we’ve been a lot more active,” he said.
“We’re not facing the DNC in these lawsuits; we’re facing these third-party groups, these left-wing organizations.”
Gruters added that holding the House will be the “most difficult task,” but argued Republicans have 46 competitive races in play, saying that 13 of them are in districts Trump previously carried.
“For us, it’s all about candidate recruitment,” he said.
“We’re making sure that we leave no stone unturned … and we’re working every single angle to make sure that we put ourselves in the best possible position to win.”
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