by ROM REDDY
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The 2026 mid-terms are upon us. All signs point to the Republicans losing ground in both the U.S. House and Senate – but also in some closely contested gubernatorial races.
Current predictions look like the Democrats will win a majority in the U.S. House with between 225 to 230 seats. Hakeem Jeffries would be Speaker. Ugh!
The bigger concern is the U.S. Senate. There, Republicans currently hold a 53–47 edge. More than a third of the seats in the Senate are up for election in November. Unfortunately, the Republicans are defending 22 out of these 35 seats. The Democrats need to defend their 13 and pick up four from the GOP to gain a majority. It looked unlikely as little as two months ago, but things have changed.
Solid Republican seats in Texas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa are now in play. The Democrats looked vulnerable in Georgia and Michigan but Georgia now looks like it will stay in the Democrat column.
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In Texas, after President Donald Trump endorsed the very weak Ken Paxton, the Democrat James Talarico has tied the race which is unbelievable in ruby red Texas; Susan Collins, the incumbent Republican is struggling to hold her ground in Maine; the popular Democratic two-term governor Roy Cooper in North Carolina has taken a lead over the Trump endorsed Michael Whatley; Jon Husted who was appointed in 2025 to replace JD Vance in Ohio is in a battle against former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and in Iowa Representative Ashley Hinson, the Republican, appears to be tied up with Representative Josh Turek, a Paralympic Gold medalist. More significantly, the Republicans in these races appear to be losing momentum.
A Senate loss in addition to a House loss will be an unmitigated disaster – especially given the extreme left tilt the Democrats have taken. In today’s system, Bill Clinton and John Kennedy will have to run as Republicans!
The question is how did we get here so quickly after across the board wins in 2024? Many of the reasons can be narrowed to two self- inflicted wounds and terrible messaging.
The self- inflicted wounds started with the 2024 Trump promise to rein in inflation and make everyday life affordable. This agenda got sidetracked by tariffs and the Iran war.
There is a role for targeted tariffs to protect certain industries and in some cases to level the playing field. However, across the board tariffs at extraordinary levels cannot be absorbed by the supply chain and shows up in higher prices for food, clothing, cars, building products – basically everything that impacts the everyday person. The only way to implement significant across the board tariffs would be to marry them with significant across the board tax cuts.
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Then came the Iran war. Clearly, no one anticipated that eight months later we would still be trading insults with the Iranians. Petroleum products especially diesel prices have skyrocketed adding pricing pressure to freight for everyday products, gas for cars, prices for plastics and other downstream petroleum products.
Uncontrolled federal spending plus these inflationary impacts have spooked the bond market causing interest rates for mortgages and consumer loans to reach highs not seen recently.
President Trump has not helped with the messaging. By far, his biggest achievements have been shutting a porous border and passing the big, beautiful tax bill that eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and extended prior tax cuts. You cannot have a sovereign nation without a strong border and the President exceeded expectations with his quick actions on this front.
Inflation management and staying out of wars which were his other promises have not happened. He is also not reading the room on how citizens feel about data centers in their backyards and how states are increasingly starting to resent what they view as federal interference in picking their state representation .
Instead of focusing on specific successes, the messaging from Washington appears to be headlining issues that are not front and center for most everyday citizens – ballrooms, arches, Kennedy center naming rights, banning news stations for perceived unfair coverage etc. which sucks the oxygen out of successes like borders and taxes.
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Most voters Republican and Democrat are concerned about the crazy cost of food, gas, mortgages, uncontrolled government spending , data centers being forced into neighborhoods and farmland and wars without a clear exit strategy. They want to know how the next 2 years are going to be better on these fronts.
A slow disconnect between what voters are focused on and what our government is focused on is how we got to a place where the Democrats have a shot at taking over the Legislative branch. Perhaps, it is time to stop and go back to our Declaration of Independence to seek guidance. The Declaration is clear in articulating that our rights come from God. Governments job is to secure and protect those rights by ensuring that they (the government) have the consent of us (the governed). When we lose that connection, we lose our system of government.
“ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS-THAT TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTITUTED AMONG MEN DERIVING THEIR POWER FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Rom Reddy is a businessman from Isle of Palms, S.C.
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