Video taking off 12x its usual first day

Republicans' Trump-free campaign ads stand out to Harriet Alexander

The Daily Mail writer tells Times Radio that campaigning in normally safe Republican territory points to vulnerability, not confidence.

Channel:

Times Radio Story of November 1, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 118,684 views a day, 12 times a normal first day on this channel (9,684).

Trump’s Attempts To Salvage Midterms Become Futile As GOP Faces ‘Dire Situation’ | Harriet Alexander

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:53Trump's rally audio invokes the historical difficulty presidents face in midterm elections.
1:43Alexander links voter concerns to household costs, including heating oil in Maine.
3:09She interprets campaigning in Republican strongholds as vulnerability and describes candidates' difficulty associating with Trump.
6:12Harvey raises Obama's White House renovation joke; Alexander considers its campaign impact.
10:04The interview changes subject to Christa Pike's survival of an execution attempt and the debate over execution methods.

Times Radio puts Donald Trump's campaign effort alongside a less visible signal: the Republican candidates who are choosing not to feature him in their adverts.

Speaking to host Jon Harvey, Harriet Alexander says she has been struck by how few candidates are using the president in their campaign advertising. Her argument is that his energetic rally schedule does not necessarily make him an asset everywhere Republicans need votes.

The interview has drawn about 110,000 views in twenty hours, far beyond the channel's usual first-day audience for a regular video.

Alexander, a senior features writer for the Daily Mail, connects the national campaign to household concerns, including the cost of heating oil in Maine. She also reads Trump's appearances in Republican strongholds such as Mississippi and Alaska as evidence that the party is having to defend territory it would normally consider secure.

"I think the Republicans are walking a real tightrope here," she says.

The interview includes rally audio in which Trump points to the historical difficulty presidents face at midterms. Alexander's analysis adds a different question: how do candidates benefit from his campaigning while keeping their own distance?

A separate Times Radio conversation with Katy Balls is also drawing an unusually large audience. Speaking to Ed Vaizey, The Times and Sunday Times Washington editor describes greater Republican anxiety about the Senate than figures around Trump had expected a year earlier. Both interviews focus on Republican unease, but Alexander's most concrete observation is about the campaign adverts in which Trump barely appears.

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