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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Karol Nawrocki, the presidential candidate supported by Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has met with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The invitation has been hailed by PiS as evidence that Nawrocki is best placed to ensure Warsaw’s continued strong relations with Washington. However, some figures from Poland’s ruling coalition have criticised Trump for interfering in the election campaign.
Great meeting with @POTUS. It was an honour to discuss the bright future of Poland-U.S. relations. https://t.co/FTM2Yrxgl6
— Karol Nawrocki (@NawrockiKn) May 2, 2025
On Thursday, Nawrocki’s team made the surprise announcement that the candidate would be visiting the White House to attend an event marking the National Day of Prayer, at which Trump gave an address to an audience gathered in the Rose Garden.
During that event, Nawrocki was pictured speaking with senior US figures, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, there remained questions over whether he would meet with Trump himself, who has enjoyed strong relations with PiS in the past.
Later, at just after 2 a.m. Polish time, the White House released photographs and a statement saying that Trump had welcomed Nawrocki to the Oval Office.
Speaking later to Polish broadcaster Republika, Nawrocki said that Trump had told him “you will win” the Polish presidential election, the first round of which is taking place on 18 May. “I read that as a kind of wish for my success,” said Nawrocki.
“You can see…from this conversation it was clear that this relationship is important to President Trump,” he added, with leading PiS politicians hailing his visit as evidence that Nawrocki is best placed to protect Poland’s relations with the US.
“Karol Nawrocki is the only candidate who can guarantee Poland’s security and maintain strong alliances in difficult times, especially with the USA,” wrote Elżbieta Witek, a former speaker of parliament, on X.
Many PiS figures contrasted Nawrocki’s warm welcome at the White House with the fact that politicians associated with Poland’s current government have not been invited there.
🇵🇱 Polska dzisiaj potrzebuje pewności, że przyszły Prezydent RP zadba o relacje polsko-amerykańskie, bowiem rząd polski na czele z Donaldem Tuskiem doprowadził te relacje do ciężkiej sytuacji – Karol Nawrocki w Waszyngtonie. #Nawrocki2025 pic.twitter.com/ml0Z1MC4Dp
— #Nawrocki2025 (@Nawrocki25) May 1, 2025
However, some politicians from the ruling coalition accused the US administration of interfering in Poland’s election campaign.
“The attempt to influence the Polish presidential elections by the Trump team, who are friends with Putin, shows their colonial attitude towards Poland,” tweeted Roman Giertych, an MP.
“Instead of celebrating the anniversary of Poland’s accession to the EU and Labour Day [on 1 May] with his compatriots, [Nawrocki] preferred to fly [to the US] to rat on his own country and ask to be anointed by the most pro-Russian US president,” wrote Tomasz Trela, another MP.
“Trump will not choose our president, just as he did not choose the prime minister of Canada,” added Trela, referring to this week’s Canadian elections in which the Liberal Party won on the back of promises to stand up to Trump.
Zamiast świętować z rodakami rocznicę wejścia Polski do Unii i Święto Pracy, wolał lecieć donosić na własny kraj i prosić o namaszczenie najbardziej prorosyjskiego prezydenta USA. Panie Nawrocki, Trump nie będzie wybierał nam Prezydenta, tak, jak nie wybrał premiera Kanadzie!
— Tomasz Trela (@poselTTrela) May 2, 2025
Throughout the presidential election campaign, Nawrocki has been in second place, according to polling averages, behind frontrunner Rafał Trzaskowski, the candidate of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party.
Over the last month, however, Nawrocki has significantly cut his deficit to Trzaskowski, whom he now trails by only around four to six percentage points.
If none of the 13 presidential candidates wins over 50% of the vote on 18 May – as seems almost certain – the top two will head into a second-round run-off on 1 June.
Weekly average of support in polls for Poland’s main presidential candidates, compiled by eWybory.eu
PiS has enjoyed close relations with Trump ever since the period when both were in office between 2017 and 2021. Days before the 2020 presidential election, Trump also invited the PiS-backed candidate, incumbent President Andrzej Duda, to the White House.
Poland is now ruled by a more liberal coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has been openly critical of Trump in the past. However, Tusk and his government have sought to maintain strong relations with Washington since Trump’s return to the White House.
In January this year, during a visit to Warsaw, Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, hailed Poland as a “model ally”. This week, energy secretary Chris Wright also spoke positively about Polish-US relations during a visit to Poland.
Opposition presidential candidate @NawrockiKn has dramatically reduced the gap in polls to ruling party pick @trzaskowski_ over the last month.@danieltilles1 offers four theories on what has gone wrong for the frontrunner – and right for his challenger https://t.co/NrN3NN1jvj
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 1, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: WhiteHouse/X
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
