How Trump is trying to save his longtime golf buddy in battleground Arizona

President Donald Trump and his allies are mounting a last-minute mission to shore up his longtime personal friend in a battleground Arizona district.

GOP groups have spent more than $22 million to boost Jay Feely against Democrat Amish Shah, with much of that spending coming in the final weeks of the race. The president has known Feely for decades as a friend and golf partner, and he sees the former Arizona Cardinals kicker as a formidable candidate, according to two Trump officials familiar with their relationship, who were granted anonymity to share details about it.

The ferocious support for Feely appears to mark a rare instance of personal friendship and loyalty shaping political strategy in the close of the midterm campaign — especially after Trump personally intervened to clear a pathway for Feely to clinch the nomination. Trump and his allies have largely taken an unsentimental approach to political spending, including backing away from high-profile Senate races in Georgia and North Carolina where Trump loyalists are on the ballot.

Trump, in public and private, maneuvered other Republicans out of the way so Feely could switch races and defend one of the premier battleground districts in the country, according to the two Trump officials.

Still, Feely has been forced to navigate Trump’s deep unpopularity on the campaign trail.

Shah has been working to tie Feely to Trump in a flurry of ads, in the district where the president has an approval rating around negative 13 points, according to Democratic internal polling viewed by POLITICO.

Feely, a star GOP recruit, also attended a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson and tech billionaire Elon Musk in Texas this August as top Republicans worked to secure Musk’s help in defending the House GOP majority alongside the Senate, according to two people with direct knowledge of the meeting, granted anonymity to share private details.

Musk has donated $20 million to the top House GOP super PAC, though he’s focused much of his attention this midterms season on the Texas Senate race.

The Trump team appears to be taking a pragmatic view of Feely’s campaign, giving him some room to distance himself from the White House — even if that means avoiding the president’s rallies and breaking with him on other matters, according to the two Trump officials and two other people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Feely posted on social media this week: “I will stand up to anyone including the president if it is not in the best interest of this district and this state.” He and another battleground Arizona Republican, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, didn’t attend a rally Trump held in their state Oct. 14.

Brian Seitchik, Feely’s general consultant and a former 2016 and 2020 Trump campaign staffer, would only say Feely "regrettably could not attend” the event.

Feely’s run is a rare case this cycle where the Republican candidate is a well-known figure in his own right — and who has been personal friends with Trump for decades. He’s running in a wealthy GOP-held district that includes Scottsdale and part of the Phoenix suburbs that the president only narrowly won in 2024 and Democrats are eager to flip. Trump officials are keenly aware if they lose the seat, Democrats could hold it for several elections to come.

“Both parties know how important the seat is,” Feely told POLITICO at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas this September. “It'll be one of three to five seats in the country that'll determine who wins the House,” he said, predicting it would “probably be the most expensive race in the country.”

“I'm honored to have a relationship with President Trump for the last two decades and to have his support at the same time,” Feely added at the time.

Internal polling on both sides show Feely locked in a tossup race against Shah, who was a physician with the New York Jets during Feely’s tenure on that team.

Feely noted the importance of winning over independent voters in the district. That’s an even harder task now given the growing unpopularity of the war in Iran and high fuel prices hitting voters.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“In a race that’s going to come down to potentially hundreds of votes, Jay is doing the hard work required to win this battleground seat,” Seitchik, Feely’s general consultant, said.

Trump and Feely, who went on to have a career in broadcasting, have known each other for several decades. They’ve golfed together in recent years: Feely posted a photo of himself with Trump in August of 2020 after a round of golf with the president at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club. “What an epic day!!” he wrote.

Trump-aligned super PACs have poured north of $9 million into the race to boost Feely on the airwaves against Shah. The top House GOP super PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund, is highly focused on defending the seat and has also dropped nearly $7 million on the race. And the National Republican Congressional Campaign has spent $2.6 million on coordinated ad buys with Feely’s campaign.

Feely was originally running in the redder 5th District to replace Andy Biggs, who is now competing to be the state’s next governor. But Trump urged Feely to switch races to the battleground 1st District after retiring GOP Rep. David Schweikert announced he would also run for governor.

Trump’s encouragement helped draw Feely into a GOP primary fight with Gina Swoboda, a longtime Trump ally and former state party chair. The president initially expressed support for both Feely and Swoboda, but soon he posted only in support of his personal friend.

“I know Jay well, and he is a TOTAL WINNER, on and off the field!” Trump wrote.