Former President Donald Trump’s campaign announced on Tuesday endorsements from the entire Republican congressional delegation from Michigan as his lead in the polls widens.
Michigan Republican representatives Tim Walberg, Bill Huizenga, John Moolenaar, Jack Bergman, and Lisa McClain said in a joint statement, “We’re proud to announce our full endorsement of President Donald J. Trump. Under the Trump presidency, America was prosperous, the economy was strong, the world was a safer place, and Michiganders were better off. President Trump has proven he has the ability to deliver results on Day One and also the ability to win in key battleground states like Michigan, being the only Republican to win a presidential race here since 1988.”
“Under his leadership, Michigan received increased funding to protect our Great Lakes and a new lock at the Soo Locks, improving one of our most important infrastructure projects in North America. President Trump will rebuild a great American economy, unleash domestic energy, secure our border, and make America safe again.”
Rep. John James (R-Mich.) said in a separate statement, “President Biden has wrecked our economy, let our position as the sole world power slip, and opened our borders. Biden’s policies have been particularly detrimental to Michigan’s middle-class. Under President Trump on the other hand, inflation was at 2 percent, the American family was strengthened through the child tax credit and other pro-family policies, and our communities were more secure. In 2024, we need to give hope to Americans who feel like their government is failing them.”
The team noted that Mr. Trump was the first Republican to win Michigan in 28 years during the 2016 elections. The 2016 win was a narrow one, at 47.50 percent over Hillary Clinton’s 47.27 percent.
Double Digit Lead
Back at the start of the year, both Mr. Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis hovered around 40 percent in national poll averages, according to FiveThirtyEight’s poll aggregator, with Mr. Trump just six points ahead. Mr. Trump made his intention to run for reelection clear last year, and Mr. DeSantis officially announced his campaign late May.Since then, the gap between the two GOP nominee frontrunners has only widened, with Mr. Trump’s profile and support only increasing amid a barrage of legal action. The most recent poll, from Morning Consult spanning July 7–9, puts Mr. Trump at 56 percent and Mr. DeSantis at 17 percent.
Last week, ahead of a Fourth of July celebration, the tiny town of Pickens, South Carolina, swelled to nearly 10 times its population to welcome supporters of Mr. Trump for a rally.
A recent Quinnipiac poll found that most registered voters believe the 37-count indictment against Mr. Trump is primarily politically motivated. Broken down by political party, 91 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of independents, and 28 percent of Democrats believed the indictment was politically motivated. Mr. Trump has called the indictments he received a “great badge of courage” during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s event in Washington.
Mr. Trump’s campaign also announced second-quarter fundraising results that put him in the lead, nearly doubling what he raised in the first quarter, at $35 million.
Meanwhile, Mr. DeSantis’s campaign revealed it had raised $20 million in just the the past six weeks, since the campaign launched, and his independent Super PAC had raised $130 million since it began fundraising in March. The team noted these figures were “the largest first-quarter filing by any non-incumbent Republican candidate in over a decade.”
However, in recent weeks, Mr. DeSantis’s numbers have flagged, and Steve Cortes, a spokesperson for Mr. DeSantis’s Super PAC, said in a Twitter spaces event the team was well aware this was an “uphill battle” against Mr. Trump and they were “way behind” in national polling. He attributed the numbers to the fact that Mr. DeSantis was not as well recognized outside of Florida.
The two frontrunners have clashed before, and recently again over Iowa.
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds last week joined Casey DeSantis for a “Mamas for DeSantis” campaign event, and appeared with Mr. DeSantis at three campaign events.
Ms. Reynolds has said, in adhering to tradition, she won’t formally endorse any GOP primary candidates. Iowa hosts the nation’s first caucuses.
Mr. Trump made his opinion clear on this neutrality in a Truth Social post where he said he had endorsed Ms. Reynolds and helped her in the governor election. A day later, his campaign confirmed he would not be attending a summit Friday in Des Moines featuring the first presidential forum of the primary season, and attributed the absence to a scheduling conflict.
“Unfortunately there is a scheduling conflict and the president will be in Florida this weekend headlining the premier national young voter conference with Turning Point Action while DeSantis is nowhere to be found,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote.
