Meet Trump’s favorite House Republican candidate

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.