The election cycle’s primary season isn’t over just yet, but with roughly 22 weeks remaining before the midterm elections, much of the political world’s focus has shifted to the fall, with control of the House and Senate, among other things, up for grabs.
With this in mind, The Washington Post highlighted a foundational question:
November’s midterm elections seem to be shaping up to be rough for the Republican Party, which is trying to hold onto control of Congress, governor’s mansions and some statehouses. So what do Republicans campaign on?
In an ideal world, in which politics works in a “Schoolhouse Rock” sort of way, Republicans would run on their record. GOP officials and candidates were rewarded in the last election cycle with vast power and an important opportunity to pursue their agenda, and the 2026 elections offer the party a chance to boast to voters about what they’ve done with that opportunity, while asking the electorate for a reward in the form of continued power.
In the real world, however, the very idea that Republicans would run on their record is laughable — because they don’t have a record. The GOP-led Congress has accomplished effectively nothing aside from a wildly unpopular package of tax breaks and healthcare cuts. Nor can the party run on its fealty to Donald Trump, because the president is wildly unpopular; and it can’t run on the state of the nation, since most Americans are deeply unhappy with the country’s direction and status quo.
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So what can voters expect to hear from the GOP between now and November? As it turns out, we’re already getting an early look at the answer. TPM reported:
Republicans are focusing on one question in one of November’s top races: Is the Democrat a real man?
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who clinched the GOP’s nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, released a new ad Wednesday —his first of the general election — accusing his opponent, state Sen. James Talarico, of being too “low-T for Texas.” “Low-T” is a reference to testosterone levels and often used as an insult by influencers in the so-called manosphere, who say low testosterone makes someone weaker.
Paxton’s interest in Talarico’s testosterone levels coincides with ugly lies from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who told Fox News’ audience this week that the Texas state lawmaker is “transitioning into a female.” (Talarico is not transgender.)
This is what Americans have to look forward to in the coming month. A failing political party, unable to govern, lacking in vision and policy ideas, led by a corrupt and unpopular president, will try to cling to power by way of a cheap and vulgar culture war, hoping to distract just enough voters into overlooking everything that’s actually happened since Republicans took control of the federal levers of power.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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