一些顶级国会共和党人私下得出结论，他们在中期选举中保持众议院控制权的可能性几乎为零，现在他们将重点放在限制失败规模和挽救参议院多数席位上。
Some top congressional Republicans have privately concluded that it is likely impossible for them to keep control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, and they are now focused on limiting the scale of the defeat and salvaging the party’s Senate majority.
五位资深共和党议员均获匿名授权，坦率谈论其党的艰难处境，他们对《政治》杂志表示，众议院基本已经失去。
Five senior Republican lawmakers, all granted anonymity to speak candidly about their party’s dire position, told POLITICO the House had all but slipped away.
一位资深众议院共和党人表示，目前共和党的目标是“尽可能多地保住共和党席位”。此人还说，总统并未提供帮助。
One senior House Republican said the GOP’s goal at this point was to “save as many Republican seats as we can.”The president, this person said, was not helping.
“特朗普总统把这次选举变成了全关于他自己的事情，”该议员说。“现在我们必须在这场政治风暴中求生。”另一位共和党国会议员表示，竞选广告的流动已经清楚表明哪一方在掌控中期选举。该议员预测，民主党将赢得大约10个席位，足以夺回众议院控制权。
“President Trump has made this election all about himself,” the lawmaker said. “Now we have to survive that political storm.”A second Republican member of Congress said the movement of campaign advertising made plain which side was in control of the midterms. This lawmaker predicted Democrats would pick up about 10 seats, more than enough to take control of the chamber.
即使是在佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州等新划分的红州，该人士也表示，共和党候选人正“指甲抠着”勉强维持。共和党已经从几个他们觉得不再具胜算的有争议众议院选区撤退，包括爱荷华州的玛丽安内特·米勒-米克斯众议员和新泽西州的汤姆·基恩 Jr. 众议员所在的选区。特朗普就在两年前赢得了这些选区。上周，该党放弃了由即将退休的唐·培根众议员所代表的以奥马哈为基础的选区。
Even in newly redistricted red states like Florida and Texas, this person said, Republican candidates were “hanging on with their fingernails.”Republicans have already fallen back from several contested House districts that they feel are no longer winnable, including those held by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey. Trump carried their districts just two years ago. The party last week gave up on an Omaha-based district held by retiring Rep. Don Bacon.
特朗普官员和其他顶级共和党运营者表示，未来几天可能会有更多候选人被切断资金，以便将广告支出转向那些能产生更大影响的竞选。共和党团体已经放弃了多个曾希望击败民主党议员的选区。
Trump officials and other top GOP operatives say more candidates may be cut off in the coming days, in order to shift advertising money to races where it can make more of a difference. Republican groups have already given up on multiple races where they once hoped to unseat Democratic lawmakers.
共和党目前正面临中西部地区的巨大压力，他们正在大力投入资金，以捍卫曾经可靠支持MAGA的州如爱荷华州、内布拉斯加州和堪萨斯州的参议院席位。
The Republican Party is under extreme pressure across the Midwest, where it is now spending heavily to defend Senate seats in once-reliably MAGA states like Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.
培根是一个经常与白宫唱反调的异议人士，他说他所在政党的政治困境并没有什么神秘之处。
Bacon, a maverick often at odds with the White House, said there was no mystery in his party’s political tribulations.
“我已经和一些正在做出这些决定的人谈过了：最大的问题是总统的民调数字和不利因素，”培根说。
“I’ve talked to some who are making these decisions: The biggest problem is the president’s polling numbers and unfavorables,” Bacon said.
白宫官员坚称他们并未放弃对国会两院的争夺。在一份声明中，白宫发言人丽兹·赫斯顿说，特朗普仍然“致力于维持共和党在众议院和参议院的多数派地位”。周二，特朗普前往阿拉斯加为陷入困境的共和党参议员丹·沙利文竞选助阵，他在出发前表示对中期选举持乐观态度，但承认现任总统所在的政党通常在非选举年会失去席位。
White House officials insist they’re not giving up on either chamber of Congress. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said Trump remained “committed to maintaining Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.”As he departed on Tuesday to campaign in Alaska for embattled GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, Trump professed optimism about the midterms but acknowledged that sitting presidents typically see their party lose seats in the off year.
“但我现在正在进行巡演，我也在举行集会，”特朗普补充道。“共和党的热情程度正在大幅上升。”众议院议长迈克·约翰逊更进一步，在深红色得克萨斯州的一次竞选停留中直言不讳地宣称，“民调是错的”，因为它显示他的政党正面临广泛失败的边缘。
“But I'm doing a tour right now and I'm doing rallies,” Trump added. “The level of enthusiasm for the Republican Party is way up.”House Speaker Mike Johnson went even further, flatly declaring during a campaign stop in deep-red Texas that “the polling is wrong” in showing his party on the brink of a broad defeat.
然而，从战术层面来看，共和党将重点从捍卫众议院转向拯救参议院的转变已经十分明显。最近几天，众议院共和党最高超级政治行动委员会——国会领导基金（CLF）——取消了对内布拉斯加州和爱荷华州关键众议院候选人的广告投放，将这些资金转移到其他众议院竞选中。这使得参议院领导基金——一个专注于上院的共和党团体——得以介入并夺得这些广告时段，以支持内布拉斯加州参议员皮特·里克茨以及正在爱荷华州参选参议院的众议员阿什利·赫森。
Yet at a tactical level, the Republican Party’s shift in focus away from defending the House and toward saving the Senate is clear enough. In recent days, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the top super PAC for House Republicans, canceled advertising for key House candidates in Nebraska and Iowa to move that money to other House races. That allowed the Senate Leadership Fund – a Republican group focused on the upper chamber – to swoop in and claim the airtime to support Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts and Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate in Iowa.
“这些不是一个打算保住众议院的政党会做的举动，”一位第三位共和党议员说。
“These are not the moves of a party that’s going to keep the House,” a third Republican lawmaker said.
在向《政治》杂志的声明中，国会领导基金和全国共和党国会委员会均表示，他们并无放弃争夺众议院控制权的意图。
In statements to POLITICO, both CLF and the National Republican Congressional Committee said they had no intention of giving up on the fight for control of the House.
NRCC发言人迈克·马里内拉表示，选区是“一个一个”赢得的，共和党拥有“赢得胜利所需的财力和基层组织能力”。CLF主席克里斯·温克尔曼表示，他的团队将继续在全国范围内调动资金，以最大化影响力。
NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said districts are won "one by one," and that the GOP has "the financial firepower and ground game needed to win." Chris Winkelman, president of CLF, said his group would keep moving money around to maximize the impact nationally.
他说，目标是“对最脆弱的民主党人施加压力，并保持通往218个席位的道路”。前众议员卡洛斯·科贝洛是一名佛罗里达州共和党人，他在八年前特朗普首次中期选举中失去了摇摆席位，他表示，他的前同事们对选举形势有清醒的认识。
The goal, he said, was to “keep the pressure on the most vulnerable Democrats and preserve a path to 218 seats.”Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican who lost his swing seat in Trump’s first midterm election eight years ago, said his former colleagues were clear-eyed about where the election seemed to be headed.
“形势严峻程度几乎是所能预料到的最大程度，”科贝洛说。“没有人私下表示他们认为共和党能够守住众议院——至少在最近几周内没有人这样说。”
“The environment is about as tough as one could expect,” Curbelo said. “There is no one who has privately stated that they believe Republicans can hold the House — not in recent weeks, anyway.
澄清：本文已更新，以更清晰地说明CLF在爱荷华州和内布拉斯加州的广告预订变动。
CLARIFICATION: This article has been updated to make clearer the CLF's ad reservation changes in Iowa and Nebraska.