MILLERSBURG, Pa. — Amanda Robbins is angry about the war with Iran. She’s angry about the price of gas.
But mostly, the 35-year-old resident of Millersburg, Pennsylvania, is mad at herself for backing President Donald Trump at the ballot box. Not once, not twice.
“Three times,” Robbins said while she fueled up at the Penn Jersey Mart here. “That was my bad. Apparently, I’m an idiot.”
Robbins was so fed up that she used an expletive to describe the president: “a worthless pile of s---.”
Trump's chances of maintaining Republican majorities in the House and the Senate in November's midterm elections will depend on voters like Robbins in towns like Millersburg — MAGA-loving enclaves in swing districts and swing states — across the country.
Located about 25 miles north of Harrisburg on the banks of the Susquehanna River, working-class Millersburg and the precincts around it produced windfalls for Trump in 2024, giving him more than 70% of their votes, as he won Pennsylvania by less than 2 percentage points.
What NBC News found in interviews with voters who put gas in their tanks here on Tuesday is that this is still Trump country: Many people here back the president on the Iran war — either because they share his perspective or have faith in his judgment — are willing to bear the cost of rising prices at the pump and plan to vote for Republicans in the midterms.
At the congressional level, Millersburg is in the 10th District, which has been represented by Rep. Scott Perry, a MAGA favorite, since 2013. But even with Trump at the top of the ballot — he won the district by 5 points — Perry narrowly escaped defeat in 2024. He beat Democrat Janelle Stelson by a little more than 1 point — and Stelson is running again this year.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the rematch as one of 17 pure toss-ups, 13 of which are now held by Republicans. To keep his seat, Perry will almost certainly need heavy turnout among Trump voters, a group that has been historically less apt to show up in midterm elections.
The same challenge faces Republican House and Senate incumbents in other highly competitive districts and states. And they will have to do that against the backdrop of a president whose approval ratings are underwater and who has lost ground with swing voters on the issues that were once his greatest strengths: the economy and immigration.
Many voters in Millersburg said they supported Trump on the war.
"I think we got to do what we got to do to keep this country safe, so and if it means paying a little bit more in gas right now to keep everybody safe, then that’s what we got to do, and eventually they’ll come back down," said 52-year-old Kim Schaffner of Dalmatia, who lives just outside the 10th District in Republican Rep. Dan Meuser's turf.
She said she'll be showing up at the polls in November and voting Republican.
Jim Matter, 69, of Halifax, where Trump won 75% of the vote in 2024, said he thinks the war with Iran is worth the spike in gas prices.
"Long run, is going to help us out, because if they get nuclear weapons, we might not even be here in a couple years," he said, adding that he hasn't fully made up his mind about casting a ballot for Perry in November.
"Wait till it gets closer,' Matter said, "but I probably will vote for him."
But not all Trump voters are planning to show up for Perry.
Even some fans of the president — and critics of the Democratic Party — say they aren't sure they will vote Republican, or vote at all, in the midterms.
Roy Strohecker, 66, said he voted for Trump and backs the war. But, he said, as he pumped gas into a can in the back of his truck, he's not happy about the cost of fuel going up. A retired farmer, Strohecker is on a fixed income, and he said he has been disappointed that inflation has continued in the year and a half since he voted for Trump over then-President Joe Biden.
The difference between the two men on the economy, he said: "Trump knows more what he's doing, but it's hurting our pocket, too."
Strohecker said he doesn't expect to vote in November.
The parties are paying close attention to the economy and Trump's standing as the fight in political battlegrounds heats up, with Republicans holding a narrow 218-214 majority in the House.
“Midterm turnout always looks different than a presidential cycle, but what we’re seeing right now is a Republican electorate that is aligned behind President Trump’s agenda and ready to ensure he has a House majority for his full term. Our focus is making sure that energy translates into votes up and down the ballot,” Reilly Richardson, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional committee, said. “Scott Perry knows his district, and his voters know exactly where he stands. He’s built a loyal base because he’s consistent, he’s direct, and he delivers on the issues that matter to them.”
“Voters are fed up with Trump and House Republicans’ litany of broken promises and record of higher costs. In poll after poll, we’ve seen voter approval of Trump and his party’s handling of the economy continues to crater, and that was before gas prices, including in swing states like Pennsylvania saw an 18% increase compared to a year ago," said Courtney Rice, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Americans are pissed off, and they’re ready to fire D.C. Republicans and deliver Democrats the House majority as a result.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to NBC News that Trump “is the unequivocal leader of the Republican party, and he is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress to continue delivering wins for the American people.”
Rogers also said Trump will "double down" on his efforts to lower prices for American families.
"As the Commander-in-Chief, he will not allow the terrorist Iranian regime to threaten the American people or disrupt the global economy by stopping the free flow of energy," she added. "President Trump has been clear that these are short-term disruptions and that Americans will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly again once the necessary objectives of Operation Epic Fury have been achieved and the regime’s capabilities are neutralized."
A handful of Trump voters who spoke to NBC News made it clear they are not pleased with the president at all, including one man who lives in a camper between Millersburg and Halifax and is opposed to American involvement in Iran.
"There should be no war," he said. Asked his opinion of how Trump is doing in his second term, the man adopted the posture of a politician who doesn't want to answer a question.
"No comment," he said. But he does plan to vote for Perry in the fall.
"He’s literally done nothing — nothing — he said he was going to," Robbins added, noting that the cost of gas makes it harder to pay her bills and that her budget for groceries doesn't go as far as it used to.
She won't vote for a Democrat but she doesn't plan to back Perry, either.
"We need new people, not the same people that’s been in there," Robbins said.
