Republicans are in big trouble.

The Republicans are in big trouble in 2026.  

The Election night just passed is a harbinger of the problems Republicans face.  Republicans got spanked royally.  The epitome of that was a Democrat candidate Attorney General who threatened death to not just a state legislator but also that legislators children won election against a Republican incumbent in Virginia.

In New Jersey, electric bills are skyrocketing due to the policies of the outgoing Democrat Governor.  The Democrat candidate's solution - declare a state of emergency on day 1 in office and then.... who knows.  That was all her advertisements offered.  The Republican candidate had a specific list of solutions he proposed.  Result - Democrat wins by a significant margin

In California, Proposition 50 was offered by Governor Newsom to redistrict the state so more seats would be Democrat.  When that was first announced, Prop 50 was way behind in the polls.  Voters had previously approved an "independent panel" to manage redistricting and initially wanted to stay that way.  Result - by Election night, Prop 50 was ahead and was adopted by the voters.

Democrats are selling snake oil and they are winning.  

Since Trump was elected, Gas prices are lower.  Egg prices are lower.  Trump has negotiated lower prices for popular pharmaceuticals.  But a Democrat Socialist antisemite is elected Mayor in the city with more Jews anywhere outside Israel, New York City by talking about affordability.  

The One Big Beautiful Bill included no tax on tips, overtime or social security - all directed at lifting up blue collar Americans.  Democrats counter with complaints that the bill made the rich even getting richer and voters are responding to calls to "tax the rich."

During the campaign, the Democrats shut down the federal Government by demanding federal expenditures saying it was needed to keep health care costs down.  The response by Republicans was so bad the Republicans are being blamed for the pain caused by the shutdown.  

With the end of the shut down, Democrats have pivoted to talking about the Epstein files, while Republicans very publicly fight among themselves - with Speaker Johnson moving to advance a bill calling for the release of the files while President Trump is fighting this initiative.  Trump's opposition has given Democrats the ability to claim there is something negative about Trump in the files or why would he be fighting the release.

Republicans are arguing that President Trump should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for the conflicts he's ended in the past year.  We're touting how few illegal immigrants have entered the country and how many are being deported.  Meanwhile, Democrats in the NJ, VA, and NYC elections ran on a promise to fight President Trump. The Democrats won those elections by double digit margins.

We're busy patting ourselves on the back for what has occurred so far this year and pooh-pooing the Democrat criticisms.  We haven't successfully communicated our successes prior to the elections and we clearly didn't listen to what voters were saying.  

If we didn't listen to what the voters said on November 4, if we don't figure out how to communicate with those voters, we'll get spanked again in 2026.

I'll follow this article with a second one this week with my suggestions on things Republicans need to do differently.