After Alabama loss, Trump has ambitious plans to campaign in 2018 midterms

By Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer December 16 at 1:37 PM

President Trump is not on the ballot in 2018, but the White House is planning a full-throttle campaign to plunge the president into the midterm elections, according to senior officials and advisers familiar with the planning.

Trump’s political aides have met with 116 candidates for office in recent months, according to senior White House officials, seeking to become involved in Senate, House and gubernatorial races — and possibly contested Republican primaries as well.

The president has told advisers that he wants to travel extensively and hold rallies and that he is looking forward to spending much of 2018 campaigning. He has also told aides that the elections would largely determine what he can get done — and that he expects he would be blamed for losses, such as last week’s humiliating defeat that handed a Senate seat in Alabama to a Democrat for the first time in 25 years.

“For the president, this isn’t about adulation and cheering crowds,” White House political director Bill Stepien said in an interview. “This is about electing and reelecting Republicans.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-alabama-loss-trump-has-ambitious-plans-to-campaign-in-2018-midterms/2017/12/16/d76d5b40-e1d1-11e7-bbd0-9dfb2e37492a_story.html