--- title: Why Donald Trump Is Making Extremely Local Endorsements description: Trump's local endorsements may have a political motivation, especially when they are for positions that oversee election results. canonical: https://time.com/6123429/donald-trump-local-endorsements/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-11-29T12:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:17:09.842Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Donald Trump Is Making Extremely Local Endorsements og:description: The motivations may be both personal and political. og:url: https://time.com/6123429/donald-trump-local-endorsements/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4da63cfb8a4a0c1f/698a2027096a94105f6ac049/trump-local-endorsements.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Former President Trump Holds Rally In Perry, Georgia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Donald Trump Is Making Extremely Local Endorsements twitter:description: The motivations may be both personal and political. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4da63cfb8a4a0c1f/698a2027096a94105f6ac049/trump-local-endorsements.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mayors, Borough Bosses and Land Commissioners: Why Donald Trump Is Making Extremely Local Endorsements > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=eee27d60-7d66-4fc8-aa98-90b9421b2eb1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Stories Behind Donald Trump's TIME Covers [Watch (HLS stream): The Stories Behind Donald Trump's TIME Covers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/W8uZ13Pz.m3u8) (5:07)  _Published 2021-01-21. TIME's D.W. Pine looks back at the various covers featuring Donald Trump, from his first appearance in 1989 to the end of his presidency._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Nov 29, 2021 12:00 PM UTC  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Nov 29, 2021 12:00 PM UTC During their local mayoral race in early November, town residents in Hialeah, Florida, population 230,000, heard a familiar voice in a campaign ad for the city’s election. “Steve Bovo,” boomed former [President Donald Trump’s voice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y2ireakVeY), in an ad spliced with video of Trump name checking the Republican candidate during a rally in 2020\. Boosting Bovo’s campaign to run the town next door to the Trump National Doral Miami resort, the former President’s endorsement told voters that “as Mayor, Bovo will fight for the values that are now under attack by the Radical Left.” With Trump’s seal of approval, Bovo won the municipal election with 59% of the vote. Bovo’s not the only hyper-local candidate to win an endorsement from the 45th President. Over the last year, Trump has endorsed 57 officials in state, local and congressional races across the country, according to a tally kept by [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Endorsements%5Fby%5FDonald%5FTrump). He endorsed the winning candidate for Staten Island borough president. He’s already backed candidates running in 2022 for land commissioner in Texas, agricultural commissioner in Florida, secretary of state in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, a host of state attorneys general and lieutenant governor hopefuls, as well as 17 candidates for House races, 14 Senate races and eight state governor’s races. An endorsement from a former President is coveted political capital, and it is unusual for a former Commander-in-Chief to extend his influence to such low-level political races. So what is Trump up to? It’s partly personal, political observers say. Trump has always been open about supporting those who praise him and attacking those who criticize him. Since leaving office, he has intervened in low-level races where he has a personal history. “He’s got a long memory and is one of the most vengeful people we’ve ever come across,” says Larry Sabato, a prominent political analyst and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. But Trump appears to have tactical reasons for intervening at the local level, too. His [failed attempt](https://time.com/5927410/trump-electoral-college-republicans/) to overturn the results of the 2020 election suggest to Sabato and others that his local endorsements have a political motivation, especially when they are for positions that oversee vote counting and certification of election results in swing states. Endorsing candidates for secretary of state, for example, may be a sign that Trump learned from his inability to overturn the election in 2020 and is positioning himself to be able to change the outcome if he or an ally loses the presidential race in 2024\. (Trump has not yet announced whether he plans to run.) “He wasn’t able to control the process in the way that he had expected after the 2020 election. He wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again in 2024,” Sabato says. “He’s trying to prepare the way either for himself or for his chosen successor on the Republican side.” In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Trump unsuccessfully pressured members of Congress and [state-level secretaries of state](https://time.com/5958086/brad-raffensperger-georgia-election-law/) to alter vote totals or not certify results for Joe Biden. “We all know now Election Day is just the beginning of the process,” Sabato continues. “The old tradition of a peaceful transition of power is out the window, thanks to Donald Trump and his allies.” The office for former President Trump did not respond to a request for comment. Trump’s endorsements have extended even lower into city governments than the secretaries of state or mayors’ offices. Vito Fossella had served multiple terms as a state representative in Albany until a [DUI arrest in 2008](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/nyregion/18fossella.html) revealed he had a second family living in Virginia, and the revelation temporarily tanked his political career. But Trump boosted Fosella’s comeback in the race for Staten Island Borough President this year with an [endorsement](//www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-tth7mrccek957) that proclaimed “New York City is now a filthy and dangerous place” and Fossella is “the only true Conservative Republican in the race who will stand up to the Radical Liberal Mob.” Fossella won the race. He said he got a call from Trump after his come-from-behind win. Trump has focused some of his recent endorsements on 2022 elections Texas—a state he won in 2020 by more than five points. He endorsed Dawn Buckingham, who is running for Texas land commissioner. She was an early supporter of Trump’s in 2015 and currently serves in the Texas state senate. The state’s current land commissioner is George P. Bush, the son of Trump’s 2016 Presidential primary rival Jeb Bush. The younger Bush broke with his family’s criticism of Trump earlier this year to praise Trump in what was widely seen as a bid to get Trump’s endorsement for Texas attorney general. Also joining the attorney general race is another Trump supporter, Congressman Louie Gohmert, who met with planners of the Jan. 6 rally and is a member of the House Anglo Saxon Political Traditions Caucus. Trump decided to endorse the incumbent Ken Paxton for reelection instead, and has scheduled a fundraiser for Paxton at Mar-a-Lago in December. Some of Trump’s early endorsements are for candidates in states that contributed to his election loss in 2020\. In Michigan, he’s endorsed candidates for attorney general and secretary of state, as well as five state representatives. In Georgia, he’s backed candidates for secretary of state and lieutenant governor. He’s endorsed a candidate for secretary of state in Arizona, where allies dragged out an election audit that ultimately confirmed Biden’s win. Those states will likely be closely contested in 2024 as well, and Trump seems to be trying to position allies in key roles. Not all of Trump’s picks so far have been successful. Trump’s choice in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat, Sean Parnell, dropped out of the race on Nov. 22 after losing custody of his three children amid abuse allegations in contested divorce proceedings. Trump’s endorsement can help, but “you’ve still got to nominate good candidates,” says Whit Ayers, a Republican pollster and political consultant. Trump’s endorsements are most effective in Republican primaries in states and districts that went for Trump in 2020, says Ayers. In 2018, then-President Trump’s endorsement of Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary for Florida governor swung the race by more than 20 points in DeSantis’ favor, Ayers says. But a Trump endorsement “doesn’t appear to be anywhere near that potent today in the wake of the post-election allegations and Jan. 6,” he says. In toss-up states, a Trump endorsement could even be a “minus,” according to Ayers, and help motivate Democratic voters. Ayers argues that Trump’s false allegations of election fraud in Georgia depressed Republican turnout during the Senate runoff late last year, allowing [Democrats to win those two Senate seats](https://time.com/5926638/georgia-senate-runoff-results/). When Trump endorsed Maryland state delegate Daniel Cox as a primary challenger to Maryland’s incumbent Republican Governor Larry Hogan, [Hogan wrote on Twitter](https://twitter.com/LarryHogan/status/1462939810067271689?s=20), “Personally, I’d prefer endorsements from people who didn’t lose Maryland by 33 points.” As Trump tries to sway the outcome in local races from New York to Arizona, the next year will test just how influential the former President remains. ## Transcript I happened been on their cover like 14 or 15 times. I think we have the all time record in the history of Time magazine. Donald Trump has always had a fascination with time. He first landed on the cover on January 16th, 1989, 28 years before his inauguration, since before his election. Trump has regularly campaigned to be named Time's Person of the Year using rallies and his Twitter feed to comment on Time's choices. They should have picked me for the Person of the Year, but they didn't know. They said. And perhaps most notably, fake time travelers were designed to hang in his golf course clubhouses. Time has a long history of featuring presidents on the cover, and Trump has been no exception. Eight of the top ten people to appear most often on Time's cover are U.S. presidents. Trump finished his term with 35 covers, the fourth most of any president behind Richard Nixon's 55 covers. Ronald Reagan with 46 and Bill Clinton with 40. Rounding out the top ten are George W Bush with 32. Barack Obama 31. Jimmy Carter 27. Jesus 22. And Hillary Clinton and George H.W. Bush tied at 21. We first introduced candidate Trump to Time's readers in August of 2015, when photographer Martin Schaller and Time editor at large Paul Moakley brought a live bald eagle to the Trump Tower in New York City for a portrait. This symbol of democracy was particularly animated during the photo and video session, even angrily nipping at the president's hand during the 2016 campaign. We produced seven covers featuring Trump and created an original visual language for this president with the artwork of artist Adele Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who worked as Time's international art director in the 1990s as a strong, simple, graphic style that immediately grabbed worldwide recognition with the meltdown cover, a reflection of his slumping campaign following the Republican National Convention. Two months later, in response to the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape, Rodriguez followed with an updated image with the headline Total Meltdown. Of course, TIME reports many different topics, and the visual approaches on the cover reinforces that variety. We have presented President Trump as a frenetic Twitter user, crumbling at the Washington Monument, a punching bag, a graphic wrecking ball, an angry character with his hair on fire, a cross between himself and Vladimir Putin, a king looking into a cover, a slingshot holding fighter, dueling with Nancy Pelosi, a happy president, whistling under an umbrella in the rain, and a man who has painted himself into a corner. We've also photographed Trump for multiple covers, including a White House tour for our May 22nd, 2017 cover and an Oval Office conversation in the summer of 2019 on Trump's plan to keep the White House. My favorite time cover of Trump is nothing to See Here from February 27, 2017. I believe the strongest time covers leave space for a variety of perspectives for this cover. If you're an opponent of President Trump, you look at the cover and you see all the chaos that this man has created. And if you're a supporter of the president, you look at it and say, even among all the chaos in Washington, look how resolute he is sitting behind that desk. That is a great place for a time cover to be. That image was created by longtime Time collaborator Tim O'Brien, who has painted more covers in the past 30 years than any other artist. It was the first of what would become a series of four paintings from O'Brien depicting Trump in a growing storm within the Oval Office. Our Trump covers have certainly not been without debate. An image we created of Trump staring down at a young immigrant girl for our Welcome to America cover sparked controversy. During the campaign, Trump frequently used the cover, proclaiming how Trump won as a selling point on the campaign trail. On numerous occasions, the president also tweeted out a fake time cover animation of how Trumpism outlasts Trump. A cover from October 22nd, 2018. But for most of the past year, the president's image on the cover took a backseat to front line workers. Racial injustice, protests and the rising COVID numbers. And even though the image of Trump wasn't physically shown on two recent covers, his influence was still present. While Trump's presidency has come to a close, it's certainly possible that we haven't seen the last of him. 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