Another Republican senator quietly scrubs Trump from campaign website as midterm jitters creep into blood red South Dakota

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Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-13 · by Charlie Spiering

Quick Summary

South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds has quietly removed all mentions of former President Donald Trump from his campaign website, including an endorsement message and policy positions aligned with Trump's "America First" agenda. This move comes as Rounds faces a stronger-than-usual challenge in South Dakota from Independent candidate Brian Bengs, with polls showing the Republican senator leading by only six points. The adjustment follows similar actions taken by other Republicans who are distancing themselves from Trump amid his declining approval ratings and perceived negative impact on their campaigns.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Republican Senator Mike Rounds, from South Dakota, has quietly removed all mentions of President Donald Trump from his campaign website as midterm elections approach. Initially, Rounds prominently featured a message on his homepage that he was endorsed by Trump and referenced the president's policies such as eliminating the Department of Education under "America First" principles. However, these references have now been eliminated from both the front page and issues section of his website. This move follows other Republicans who are distancing themselves from Trump in their campaign materials. Rounds is facing Independent candidate Brian Bengs for reelection; Democratic nominee Julian Beaudion had withdrawn earlier. The adjustment in Rounds' website reflects concerns among some Republican candidates about Trump's declining popularity, especially as they seek to maintain control of the Senate during midterm elections.

Written for “Republican Senator Removes Trump Endorsement” on 2026-10-13, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans left (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans left for article 76610 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-13

Story

📰 Republican Senator Removes Trump Endorsement
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 48 📰 publisher trust 68
“Article A discusses general attacks by President Trump against Democratic candidates and potential divisions among Republicans, while Article B specifically reports on a South Dakota senator removing references to Trump from his campaign website.”

Cite this article

Spiering, C. (2026, October 13). Another Republican senator quietly scrubs Trump from campaign website as midterm jitters creep into blood red South Dakota. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16203671/mike-rounds-donald-trump-south-dakota.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

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Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-13 · how these are computed

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Publisher

Daily Mail · 5260 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Charlie Spiering
18 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 She would only take a job in the White House if the president asked her to, she said, even if she was asked to be the White House press secretary.
🔮 Forty percent of voters believe that Trump would be most responsible for Republican losses in November, while just 10 percent said that Republican leaders in Congress would be responsible.
🔮 'I fear that the next one who could be killed could be sitting at this table right now, and we're not going to stop, but they need to stop, and they will not stop until they are stopped,' MAGA media figure Jack Posobiec told the president.
🔮 By Thursday, Trump was flying into Texas to campaign at Paxton's side ahead of his showdown with Democrat James Talarico in a battleground race that will be pivotal to the outcome of the midterms.
🔮 Videos of Talarico's comments about stating there were 'six' genders, that God was 'non-binary,' professing his love for 'trans kids,' and announcing he would make his campaign consume less meat went viral, prompting a response from influential podcasters and content creators.
🔮 White House insiders have expressed concern over the growing influence of Trump's aides Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte and White House aide Natalie Harp have been by the president's side just before his most inflammatory social media posts Insiders told the Daily Mail they doubt Trump's ban would have happened if outgoing Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (above) were still working in the West Wing It has prompted lawsuits from the three outlets and left the presidential TV pool dark for much of Trump's UN appearance.
🔮 He could have been announcing an annexation of Iceland.
🔮 And yet, we stand unified around one everlasting truth: the future of our world will be determined by what we do for our children today,' Melania said.
🔮 However much you might disagree with their policies, it's a lot easier to tag El-Sayed and AOC as crazy people because of all the crazy stuff they've said and done in public life,' he said.
Also by Charlie Spiering
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 18 articles by Charlie Spiering →

Topics

Daily Mail Democratic Florida Republican South Dakota

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 12× Republican NORP · 7× Rounds PERSON · 7× Donald Trump PERSON · 4× Mike Rounds PERSON · 4× South Dakota GPE · 4× Daily Mail ORG · 2× Democratic NORP · 2× Florida GPE · 2× Washington GPE · 1×

Narrative

An older version of Senator Mike Rounds' campaign website included a message to voters reminding them he was endorsed by President Donald Trump Senator Mike Rounds new campaign website has removed any mention of President Donald Trump on the front page President Donald Trump has stepped up his campaign activity, traveling in traditionally more Republican states The adjustment of Rounds' website follows several other Republicans distancing themselves from Trump in campaign material.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-13

Claims (21 extracted, 1 hedged)

- Sign up HERE to our DC Insider newsletter - your guide to what's rocking Washington, rattling the White House and setting tongues wagging on the Hill The latest Republican to scrub mentions of Donald Trump hails from a state the president carried by 29 points in 2024. asserted
president → sign → 2024
As early as September 22, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds had 'Endorsed by President Trump' displayed prominently on his campaign homepage. asserted
Rounds → endorse → homepage
On his issues section, Rounds had multiple references standing with Trump on America First principles, including the president's decision to eliminate the Department of Education. asserted
Rounds → have → Education
Now Trump's name does not appear on the front page of the website and the issues page does not include any mention of the president. asserted
page → appear → president
A spokesperson for Rounds did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment. asserted
spokesperson → respond → comment
Rounds' political adviser Rob Skjonsberg told Fox News they were 'proud of the president’s endorsement' which was still in the senator's announcement video. asserted
which → tell → video
Rounds is facing Independent candidate Brian Bengs for reelection, an Air Force veteran and former Democratic political candidate. asserted
Rounds → face → reelection
Democratic nominee Julian Beaudion withdrew August 4, leaving Bengs in a head-to-head contest with Rounds rather than splitting the opposition vote. asserted
Beaudion → withdraw → vote
The normally safe Republican seat shows Rounds leading only by six points according to a Zenith Research poll of 500 likely voters conducted September 24-27. uncertain
Rounds → show → voters
The poll has a 4.4 percent margin of error. asserted
poll → have → error
Trump won South Dakota with 63.4 percent of the vote in 2024. asserted
Trump → win → 2024
Senator Mike Rounds is facing a stronger than usual challenge in South Dakota asserted
Rounds → face → Dakota
An older version of Senator Mike Rounds' campaign website included a message to voters reminding them he was endorsed by President Donald Trump Senator Mike Rounds new campaign website has removed any mention of President Donald Trump on the front page President Donald Trump has stepped up his campaign activity, traveling in traditionally more Republican states The adjustment of Rounds' website follows several other Republicans distancing themselves from Trump in campaign material. asserted
adjustment → include → material
Trump's approval ratings have plunged into the low 30s as he pursues an unpopular war in Iran and voters blame him for failing to address high gas prices, food prices, mortgage rates, and high inflation. asserted
voters → plunge → prices
A recent Daily Mail/YouGov poll shows that 49 percent of voters believe Trump is hurting Republican candidates, more than double the 20 percent who think he is helping. asserted
he → show → candidates
Democrat operatives continue to monitor changes to Republican candidate websites, as they are quietly removing any mention of the president and instead focusing more on their own political brand. asserted
they → continue → brand
The Trump-endorsed candidate for Florida Governor, Byron Donalds' adjusted some of his campaign information, removing Trump's name from prominent positions on his site. asserted
candidate → endorse → site
In Florida, Mike Beltran also removed several prominent Trump references from his campaign website. asserted
Beltran → remove → website
In Kentucky, Ralph Alvarado removed prominent Trump imagery and replaced the description 'America First Fighter' with the words 'Independent Leadership.' Iowa Republican Joe Mitchell removed some of the more explicitly pro-Trump language from his website, while Texas candidate Carlos De La Cruz dropped 'Trump Conservative' from the prominent description of his campaign. asserted
Cruz → remove → campaign
In California, Young Kim removed references to Trump and 'America First' from prominent portions of her website, while James Gallagher removed Trump's endorsement and photograph from his campaign site. asserted
Gallagher → remove → site
The Cook Political Report still rates the South Dakota Senate seat as Solid Republican. asserted
Report → rat → Republican
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