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Donald Trump has kept the high-stakes races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia at arm's length as the Republican candidates look like losers. The president is typically eager to endorse candidates he believes can win, and he even spent much of the last 24 hours firing off endorsements on his Truth Social app. Whenever a candidate he backs does win, Trump has been quick to take credit, in part, for lending the aspiring politico his MAGA brand. Though as the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia come to a close, and conservative candidates Jack Ciattarelli and Winsome Earle-Sears continue to trail in most polls, the president has decided to forgo any last-minute campaign stops to bail them out. Instead, Trump is opting to campaign from home. On Monday evening, the president participated in two tele-rallies to help buoy Ciattarelli and Earle-Sears's campaigns, according to his official schedule. While Trump offered effusive praise for Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, he made no mention of Earle-Sears, an omission widely perceived as a snub. Trump is known for not wanting to tie his brand to sinking ships, but the decision to stay away may also demonstrate how his popularity is sagging in the pair of traditionally blue states. Trump has endorsed the New Jersey candidate Ciattarelli, but he has withheld his official endorsement from Earle-Sears as she remains underwater in the polls. Going into the elections on Tuesday, Ciattarelli trailed Democrat Representative Mikie Sherrill by an average of just 3.3 points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Meanwhile, Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears lags behind Democratic ex-Representative Abigail Spanberger by a whopping 9.5 points, the RCP average shows. 'I don’t think he likes to back candidates he knows are going to lose,' Chris Saxman, an ex-GOP state delegate from Virginia, told the Washington Post. Democrats, on the other hand, have deployed their biggest star to help juice turnout in the final days. Former President Barack Obama jetted between two in-person campaign events with both Sherrill and Spanberger on Saturday. 'Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World?' Trump posted on Sunday. 'VOTE REPUBLICAN for massive Energy Cost reductions, large-scale Tax Cuts, and basic Common Sense!' Trump similarly held a brief tele-rally for Ciattarelli last month, where he ripped into Sherrill and criticized her name. 'Mikie, as they call her — the only thing she’s got is an unusual name, other than that she’s terrible,' Trump said at the time. 'Mikie Sherrill looks [like] such an innocent name, but her energy policies would send your prices soaring and make New Jersey even more expensive than it already is.
