It’s been said plenty of times that Democrats have history on their side heading into the 2026 midterms. In the past century, only three midterm elections have broken the pattern of voters punishing the party that holds the White House. Add in President Trump's approval numbers, and the map should be tilting hard toward the Democrat Party. Very hard.
It isn't happening. I recently noted that Democrats may be on track to blow a golden opportunity because they can't stop fighting each other over socialism and can't be bothered to offer voters anything besides "we hate Trump."
The polling backs it up.
A recent Washington Post/Ipsos survey found Democrats only leading the generic congressional ballot by a measly 48% to 45%. Other polls show the race tied, or Republicans ahead by three to four points. That's not the kind of cushion a party rides to a landslide.
And the structural problems aren't even the worst of it. The Democrat Party is also fielding some real freak shows for candidates, and that's before you get to the radical Democratic Socialists of America dragging the party even further left.
Take Maine, where Senate candidate Graham Platner dropped out of the race after a rape allegation surfaced against him. Democrats didn’t go for a safe replacement. His replacement is Troy Jackson, who has reportedly struggled with anger issues and abusive behavior toward women. Jackson has two kids with his own second cousin.
Then there's Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, whose fixation on transgender children's issues and belief that God is nonbinary make him a bizarre candidate to field in Texas.
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In Arizona's 6th District, Democrat Joanna Mendoza was married to a Syrian national for a grand total of 16 days. It gets weirder. California's 22nd District candidate Randy Villegas rehired a known pedophile while sitting on the Visalia Unified School District board. Colorado's 8th District candidate Manny Rutinel has posted bizarre content on social media and helped kill a bill that would have imposed mandatory jail time on child sex offenders. Iowa's 3rd District candidate, Sarah Trone Garriot, officiated a wedding ceremony complete with satanist elements.
Shall I continue?
New Jersey's 12th District candidate Adam Hamaway has faced accusations tying him to the World Trade Center bombing and the al-Qaeda terrorist network. New Mexico's 2nd District candidate Gabe Vazquez is fielding questions about a staged wedding and a romantic relationship with a coworker. And Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), running for reelection in the state's 3rd Congressional District, reportedly beheaded a chicken in college. Because who doesn’t do that, am I right?
Political ideology aside, Democrats are nominating candidates who are truly cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
"Democrats are openly embracing the freaky fringe of their party and showing voters just how detached they are from reality," said Natalie Baldassarre, national press secretary for the Republican National Committee. Baldassarre said the candidates "have no business running for elected office, let alone influencing actual policy decisions" and predicted voters "will reject these sick freaks in November."
Imagine if Democrats just ran normal candidates instead of this rogues' gallery of chicken-beheaders, pedophile-hirers, satanist officiants, and cousin-marrying anger cases.
They'd be doing better. That much is obvious.
Make no mistake about it: If Democrats fail to win a majority in either chamber this November, they won't need to look far for the reason. They nominated crazies. They own what comes next.
