President Trump wasn’t on the ballot in 2018, but his entire family was nonetheless integral to the Republican Party’s expectation-beating outcome.
Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Lara Trump upheld the president’s reputation for boundless energy, crisscrossing the country in support of Republican candidates in multiple key races.
Some estimates suggest that between May and Election Day on Nov. 6, Don Jr. alone participated in more than 60 campaign events. Altogether, Don and his family members made more than 100 campaign appearances during the 2018 election cycle.
Their time wasn’t wasted, either. Most of the candidates who received a visit from a member of the First Family ended up winning — including Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in Florida, both of whom eked out victories despite having been underdogs in pre-election polling.
They didn’t stop on Election Day, either. Since then, Eric, Don and Lara have been campaigning for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the advance of Tuesday’s runoff election in Mississippi.
The fact that the Trump family rigorously campaigned for the GOP when the president wasn’t even on the ballot shows that their dedication comes from their fundamental belief in Donald Trump’s overarching goal of making America great again.
After all, the president’s vision of restoring our country’s greatness can only materialize if there are enough pro-America candidates in Congress to pass legislation that will empower the American people.
Sadly, Democrats’ agenda to undermine President Trump’s policies will produce the opposite effect, leading to more partisan gridlock in Washington. The first family helped make that outcome less likely by stumping for GOP Senate candidates, raising the possibility that Democrats may work with the president and congressional Republicans on issues where compromise is possible.
None of the Trumps have any background in politics before the 2016 presidential campaign, yet all of them have been remarkably effective campaigners in their own right.
Candidates in Indiana (Greg Pence), Tennessee (Marsha Blackburn), Ohio (Bob Gibbs, Mike DeWine), Missouri (Josh Hawley) and in other states all got boosts from visits by the first family leading up to Election Day. And, of course, I can’t discount the importance of the Trumps’ intervention in my own successful campaign to unseat Joe Donnelly.
When they met working families from across Indiana, the Trumps did not deliver polished campaign speeches with constructed talking points filled with feel-good platitudes.
Instead, they sincerely embraced President Trump’s mission — and that sincerity came across clearly to Hoosier voters when they met the President’s family face-to-face. Just like they did two years ago, the Democrats heavily underestimated the power of Trump’s message and its appeal to American patriotism in my home state.
The entire Trump family went above and beyond the call of duty during the 2018 election season. They suspended most of their business duties in an effort to make visits throughout the country and speak to thousands of American voters.
Along with record-setting rallies by President Trump and campaign stops by Vice President Mike Pence, the first family truly derailed the Democrat plot to take complete control of Congress in the midterms.
Like my family and me, the entire Republican Party should be grateful for the enormous role the First Family played in securing the GOP’s historic victory.
Mike Braun is the senator-elect from Indiana.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.