President Donald Trump has struggled to keep Republicans in purple and blue states in his corner as the 2026 midterm elections approach Election Day. On Friday, as he prepares to campaign with New York’s GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, Trump is facing a new embarrassment — only 25 percent of the local candidates from his party want to attend the rally with him.
“Only four out of 16 local Republican candidates and party leaders plan to be on hand to hear Trump make his first public speech in Syracuse in 10 years, according to a survey by Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard,” reported Syracuse.com’s Mark Weiner on Friday. “Among those giving Trump the snub are the top two elected Republicans in the Syracuse area – Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon and District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick.”
Weiner continued, “Neither GOP candidate seeking New York Senate seats in Central New York – Rich McCarron and James Corl III – will be at the rally. Not a single elected Republican serving in the Onondaga County Legislature said they would be at the event.” He added, “Joe Bick, chair of the Onondaga County Republican Committee, the region’s GOP political leader, won’t be in attendance. McMahon, Fitzpatrick, Bick and other GOP officials gave similar explanations about their high-profile absence. They have other commitments with work, family, campaigns or the local apple festival that will keep them away.”
McMahon specifically cited that he was “tired” and has “a baby.” He explained that “he would meet with Trump if they could have a face-to-face discussion of federal policies that affect the community. But he does not plan to attend the rally.”
“Certainly, if there was an opportunity to talk to the president about things that matter to this community, I would find a way to make that happen. But I don’t have a lot of leisure activity time,” McMahon told Weiner.
Other candidates listed excuses such as “I can’t make it. Even if I was free, I probably wouldn’t go” (James Corl III, candidate in the 50th State Senate District) and Onondaga County Legislator David Knapp, R-LaFayette (the LaFayette Apple Festival).
New York Republicans are now alone in spurning the president. Last month Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, that state’s Senate nominee for the GOP, secretly told a group of supporters that Trump’s midterms convention hurt them.
“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
Speaking to AlterNet in September, Trump’s former communications director Anthony Scaramucci argued Republicans took this long to distance themselves from Trump because they are “cowards.”
“I would say to you that they’ve become cowards,” Scaramucci told AlterNet. “They’ve become self-aggrandizing. We started this interview by me saying that they only care about themselves and their own personal power, and they’ve become cowards.”