Republicans are scrambling to protect their Senate seat in Nebraska, an unmistakable sign of just how dire the midterm landscape has become for the party. President Donald Trump won the state by 20 percentage points just under two years ago, and Democrats have not won a Nebraska Senate race since 2006.

The White House announced Tuesday that Trump will campaign in Nebraska next week as GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts faces a surprisingly competitive contest. Republicans also risk losing as many as two House districts they currently control in the state.

Sending a Republican president to campaign in dark red Grand Island during a midterm cycle is no routine move. The last time that happened was in 2006, when President George W. Bush traveled there as his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged down Republicans.

Bush was trying to help Republicans defeat Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. That mission failed spectacularly, with Nelson defeating Ricketts by nearly 28 points.

Ricketts eventually obtained the Senate seat he had long wanted, but he now finds himself struggling to secure reelection. The source of his predicament is tied to the damage from Trump’s policies, particularly in a state where agriculture plays a major role.

Nebraska’s agricultural industry has been hammered by Trump’s cruel immigration enforcement actions, which have decimated the state’s workforces. His tariffs and the boondoggle of a war in Iran have also driven up prices for fertilizer and diesel fuel used to grow and harvest crops.

The political damage surrounding farming is not limited to Nebraska. Trump’s impact on the industry also threatens Senate Republicans in Iowa and Kansas, where the GOP is now struggling to defend seats that few expected would become competitive when the election cycle began.

Trump is scheduled to campaign in Iowa as Republicans try to shore up their position there. He has also sent Vice President JD Vance to Kansas, another sign that the party is being forced to spend valuable political time in places it once expected to hold comfortably.

In Nebraska, Trump’s planned appearance is only one piece of the Republican rescue effort. Republican super PACs are spending roughly $5 million to promote Ricketts and attack his independent challenger, Dan Osborn.

Despite Nebraska’s heavily Republican political character, polling shows Ricketts and Osborn locked in a neck and neck race. That result alone helps explain why the White House and outside Republican groups are rushing resources into the state.

Republican concerns extend beyond the Senate contest. Nebraska’s 2nd District, currently held by the GOP, is rated a “Lean Democratic” race by the Cook Political Report.

Democrats are favored to flip that open seat, which Republican Rep. Don Bacon is vacating. Losing it would add another wound for a party already scrambling to protect territory in a state Trump won by a wide margin.

Nebraska’s 1st District has not yet appeared on the map for organizations that rate congressional races. Even so, internal polling released by Democrats showed Republican Rep. Mike Flood vulnerable in the district.

Trump carried the 1st District by 13 points in 2024, which makes Republican anxiety there particularly striking. A seat with that kind of recent Republican advantage becoming a potential concern only deepens the party’s midterm headache.

Nebraska is now demanding presidential attention, millions of dollars in outside spending, and defensive planning across Senate and House races. If this is where Trump and the GOP must invest their time and resources merely to survive, the midterms could become very ugly for Republicans.