PRETEND I’M ON THE BALLOT
Quick question for you. If the president asks voters to pretend he’s on the ballot, why are his own candidates pretending he isn’t on their TV ads? Take the blue pill with me this morning. It comes with a remote control.
“Just close your eyes”
On Oct. 2 in Mobile, Alabama, President Trump gave his party its closing instructions. “In this election, I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” he said, per the rally transcript. “When I’m not on the ballot, we don’t do well. When I’m on the ballot, we kill everybody. So just close your eyes and pretend I’m on the ballot.” You can watch the whole thing on FOX10’s replay. We flagged the line when it first showed up in NOT A CAMPAIGN AD.
Two weeks later, we have the numbers on how his party took the advice.
PRETEND I’M ON THE BALLOT: the voters were told to close their eyes. The candidates closed the ad budget.
President Trump waves to a rally crowd at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, June 24, 2026. On the stump he asks voters to “pretend I'm on the ballot.” In their own general election ads, most Republican candidates leave him out. Credit: Daniel Torok, The White House, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The ads where he isn’t
Here’s the scoreboard from POLITICO’s analysis of AdImpact data, published Saturday. Democratic House and Senate candidates and outside groups have spent $145 million on general election ads mentioning Trump. Republicans have spent $8 million. In 2024, GOP candidates spent $62 million on ads mentioning him.
CNBC ran its own count of distinct ads. Trump shows up in 57 of 1,324 Republican general election ads, 4.3%, down from 47.1% during the primaries. He appears in 20.9% of Democratic ads.
The red states are the funniest part. In 2024, Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer and Ohio’s Bernie Moreno both ran general election ads featuring Trump’s endorsement, per POLITICO. This cycle, Trump is absent from all Republican Senate ads in Ohio. In Nebraska, the only Pete Ricketts ads that name the president accuse independent Dan Osborn of disparaging Trump supporters. They don’t mention the endorsement. In Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan’s ad cites how he “voted to force Trump’s DOJ to release the Epstein files.”
Then there’s the stage itself. When Trump’s team was planning a Michigan stop last week, possibly in western Michigan, several Republican candidates and their teams “initially didn’t know whether they should attend and be seen with the president,” according to three Republicans POLITICO granted anonymity. They worried about his tariffs and about fuel prices during the Iran war. The event was scrapped. He’s now set to rally in Michigan on Oct. 25.
Former Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci said a nonprofit he works with surveyed voters and found that “in most cases you do not want [Trump] standing near you.” An Ohio Republican operative was blunter: “This is a historically unpopular president.”
He asked you to pretend he’s on the ballot. His own party is pretending he’s not on the air.
The red costume: loyal on the roll call, missing from the ad
Here’s the part that should bug you no matter how you vote. Ohio Sen. Jon Husted has appeared at two events with Trump, per Renacci, and Trump is still absent from every Republican Senate ad in the state. On Sept. 24, Husted and Sullivan both voted against the Senate resolution calling for an end to the Iran war, NBC News reported. They’ll stand with him on the war vote. They just won’t put him in the 30 seconds you actually see.
In Michigan, Senate nominee Mike Rogers said as recently as September that “Trump is right to put America first” with tariffs, per CNBC. His Oct. 7 ad, beer in hand: “Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now.” He never mentions the man who started it. NBC News reported he has also called for ending the Iran war after siding with Trump on it for months. Look up who funds Michigan’s delegation on our Michigan Money Map.
The White House line, from spokesman Davis Ingle: Trump is “the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party.”
“Best messenger” is a funny title for a man his party keeps muting.
Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio in his official 2025 portrait. He voted with Trump against the Sept. 24 Iran war resolution and has appeared at Trump events, but POLITICO found Trump absent from every Republican Senate ad in Ohio this cycle. Credit: United States Senate, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The blue costume: running against the guy who isn’t running
Now the other side. Democrats have spent $145 million making a midterm about a man whose name won’t appear on a single ballot. Michele Tafoya said it to Peggy Flanagan’s face in Friday’s Minnesota debate, per Fox News: “Peggy, Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot.” We covered that exchange in THE BUCK STOPS WITH HIM.
And Democrats don’t get to act shocked at a party hiding its own president. In October 2022, NPR reported that with Joe Biden’s approval ratings underwater, “many Democratic candidates in tough races have avoided campaign appearances with him.”
Same disappearing act, different president. Four years ago it was the blue team checking its schedule.
Mike Rogers, now Michigan's Republican Senate nominee, at a Hudson Institute panel in 2015. He backed Trump's tariffs as recently as September; his Oct. 7 ad calls for ending “this tariff war now” without naming Trump. Credit: Hudson Institute, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Both costumes
Here’s the adult version.
Republicans want Trump’s base to show up and Trump’s name to stay off the screen. Democrats want Trump on every screen and their own 2022 president nowhere near the conversation. Both parties treat a sitting president as a turnout tool when he’s popular and a rumor when he isn’t.
The boring standard: if you vote with him, put him in your ad. If you hid your own president four years ago, skip the outrage and run on your plan.
Ask your candidates one question this week: when you’re in office, whose agenda are you voting for? Then check whether their ads say the same thing. Our Money Map and electoral map will show you who’s paying for the answer.
Receipts
- POLITICO (Jessica Piper, Jason Beeferman, Meredith Lee Hill), Oct. 17, 2026. AdImpact totals ($145 million, $8 million, $62 million in 2024); Ohio, Nebraska and Alaska ads; scrapped Michigan stop; Renacci and Ohio operative quotes; White House statement.
- CNBC (Luke Fountain), Oct. 14, 2026. 57 of 1,324 GOP ads (4.3%), 47.1% in primaries, 20.9% of Democratic ads; Rogers’ tariff quotes and Oct. 7 ad.
- NBC News, Sept. 24, 2026. Senate rejects Iran war resolution 49-50; Husted and Sullivan vote no; Rogers’ shift on the war.
- Mobile rally transcript, Oct. 2, 2026 and FOX10 replay. “Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
- Fox News, Oct. 16, 2026. Tafoya: “Peggy, Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot.”
- NPR, Oct. 17, 2022. Democrats in tough races avoided appearances with Biden.
- Earlier Hypocrisy Democracy: NOT A CAMPAIGN AD; A LOST CAUSE; THE BUCK STOPS WITH HIM. Reader tools: Michigan Money Map; Money Map and electoral map.
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Originally published on Substack.
