Meanwhile, Republicans continued to make gains in rural and exurban communities that used to be Democratic strongholds, also evidenced by what happened in Minnesota. The two districts the GOP won in the state were two of the only three seats the party flipped on Nov. 6.

However, there are a lot more available voters in the suburbs that are trending blue under his leadership, a critical challenge for the president. If Trump’s party can’t recover in suburbia in 2020 and he loses ground there compared to two years ago, states like Pennsylvania that the president won to much fanfare could slip away.

“All of the damage that was done in 2018 is correctable by 2020,” said Charlie Gerow, a Republican operative in Pennsylvania who said that GOP performance in the Philadelphia collar counties in the midterm elections should be a warning sign. “It’s going to be up to the Trump campaign to reclaim those educated, suburban Republicans that voted for Trump in 2016 but against some of the party’s congressional and legislative candidates in 2018.”