President Donald Trump could push suburban Republicans towards voting Democrat in the midterm elections, The New York Times reports.

"There's no illusion about the storm that's coming," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said. "If you had any doubts, they were wiped away after New Jersey, Virginia and Alabama."

Despite winning the election, Trump failed to win over college-educated, suburban voters, even those who typically vote for Republicans.

"If you look at the patterns of where gains are being made and who is creating the foundation for those gains, it's the same: An energized Democratic base is linking arms with disaffected suburban voters," said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat who helped his party retake control of the House in 2006.

"The president's conduct has basically given voters this permission slip to go against the Republicans."

House Republican leaders already have begun to prepare for an uphill battle, with five of them meeting on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming elections.

"The general tenor was: This is not a year like most of you have seen, because you've not seen wind in your face," said former Rep. Thomas Reynolds, who headed the House GOP campaign committee in 2006.

"The overwhelming challenge we have is with college-educated, suburban women," said GOP strategist Liesl Hickey, another former House campaign committee leader. "And their resistance mostly has to do with their feelings about President Trump."