Republicans Get Wrecked In 2026 Midterms—What Caused Their Carnage At The Polls?

0:02Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me once again is Brittany Martinez. She's the executive director of Principles First. Brittany, thanks so much for coming back on. Thank you for having me. It is Wednesday morning, the day after the midterms, and the headlines are reading everything from blue tsunami, Democrats win decisively, Democrats win in a landslide, everything in between that the Democrats just won, and they won because of President Trump. That's what people are saying. What are you saying? What happened here?

0:41Brittany Martinez: I think Democrats won because of President Trump. Absolutely. You know, we've been Brittany, you and I have been chatting for years at this point now, and I'm so happy that we have been. And I've been very consistent in that. I told people time and time again that this was not sustainable for the Republican Party, that one day we would have a reckoning. And here we are. We have finally had that moment. I think the election was less about what Democrats are offering and more about what Republicans haven't been able to deliver on. Democrats, congrats to my colleagues on that side of the aisle. I hope that they do what's right for the American people and try to focus on the economy, affordability, cost of living, and less on the impeachment and investigations.

1:28Brittany Martinez: So I'm not saying that people shouldn't be held accountable, of course. But I heard last night Americans say that they wanted new leadership, whatever that leadership may be, and something different than what Republicans have been offering the last few years. Or Democrats, rather, they won in states that President Trump won decisively in 2024, places like Kansas, Iowa, other states where he won by double digits just two years ago. So does it just come down to the economy? Does this just come down to a referendum on President Trump? Because if you looked at President Trump's social media, it wasn't his fault.

2:08It was Fox News's fault. In fact, he said Fox News bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Democrat opposition and worse. He blamed the media. He blamed certain candidates for losing, like Greg Abbott of Texas. he blamed the iran war in part what what do you think who's to blame here is it squarely president trump is it republicans what does that look like to you he will never take any

2:32Brittany Martinez: accountability for anything ever i think that's been made pretty clear to us over the years we know he often likes to double down um when he's wrong um not even just like pivot move forward he actually likes to double down i think that it is absolutely a repudiation on president trump and this administration and what they have been incapable of doing and and where they've failed i do think it's the economy and iran and unfortunately maybe this isn't the answer you want but i think it's a little bit of everything i think it's um the cruelty that people are now tired of i think they wanted a president to fight for them and maybe be a little snarky and sassy but continuously has crossed the line further and further and moved those goalposts back.

3:16Brittany Martinez: I think that people are tired of hearing a billionaire putting gold filigree in his office talk about how affordability is a hoax and that there is no crisis when they're living paycheck to paycheck. I think they're tired of seeing an administration and family members and flunkies who seem to be profiting off of their coffers when they're struggling to fill up their tanks and diesel is$6. So I think it's a little bit of everything. And Americans are just tired. And I think that was resoundingly clear last night. In the primaries, we saw that if President Trump backed you, he had a very high success rate, you were pretty much good to go.

3:58If you were one of his targets on his so-called revenge tour, yes, I'm looking at you, Senators John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy, you were pretty much a goner. Your political career was pretty much over. But now we're seeing where President Trump backed you. And even if he didn't, if you were even a more moderate Republican who didn't get that support, your days could have been numbered. You your seat could have been flipped. You could have lost your election here. We saw those losses in red states, as well as red districts. Do you think then because of this, because of these results, Republicans will think, hey, it's time to move on from President Trump.

4:39Is MAGA dead?

4:41Brittany Martinez: If this isn't a message finally for once and for all, I don't know what would be. This is, and we're still waiting for some of the results to come in, but the last time I heard, as I've been watching the news, is that this is sort of the biggest overhaul that we've seen since 1974 and Watergate. So we need to have a moment and realize, oh, wow, maybe we do need to pivot and change course here. I think that is very evident based off of last night, which truly, in my opinion, was probably the worst version of what could have happened, essentially, and what people were anticipating might happen, but probably a more reduced version of that.

5:28Brittany Martinez: So Yeah, I think that Republicans would be smart to to close this book and start a new one, because clearly this isn't working anymore. And I'm not saying it never did. Of course it did. He won presidency twice. Republicans were able to flip the House and the Senate at certain points throughout these last 10 years. but things have clearly changed and I think President Trump what people have often given him credit for is being able to meet people where they are I don't think he's meeting people where they are anymore and I think he's trying to make them be where he is and they've said you're not prioritizing the things that we need so it's time to it's time to move forward we can't keep living this way.

6:18I'm from originally one of the most purple districts in this country, and that seat was Brian Fitzpatrick's. The Democrat flipped that and won last night, and that's usually a bellwether for the rest of the country. Last night, we saw moderate Republicans like Brian Fitzpatrick lose. We saw Trump picked candidates like Ken Paxton, like Mike Rogers lose as well. So do you think that this is a full reset for the Republican Party. What do you think those conversations internally need to look like?

6:50Brittany Martinez: I think people saw ours next to names. And even if it was a moderate person, if it was someone who was extremely MAGA, may have just said, we're voting the Republicans out. And can you blame Americans when Republicans have the White House, both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court when they're hurting? That's what happens. That's how elections go. You know, one party gets the opportunity, maybe they deliver and they stay in longer, maybe they don't deliver to the extent Americans are hoping, and then they get voted out. As far as where Republicans move forward from here, to me, and I've been preaching this for a long time, it's clear that we need to go in a different direction.

7:31Brittany Martinez: You know, an analogy that I've sort of been using is gossip. We all have friends who we trust and we gossip with, and, And, you know, we talk smack about people, right? And that's human nature and that's psychology and sociology. But we've all had those friends that then they just get like a little too mean and it's a little bit too mean-spirited. And I feel like that's where we are now where people are like, oh, that was actually really, really bad. And so I feel like we've turned that page and people just don't want that anymore. They want someone to fight for them, but not be overtly cruel all the time.

8:11To that point, that made me think of Vivek Ramaswamy and his perhaps October surprise of the ad on his challenger, Amy Acton's mom. Vivek Ramaswamy lost his race, the Republican. And one of my colleagues, John Hyatt, he's wrote about Vivek before, but he wrote after his loss how Vivek Ramaswamy's bet on Donald Trump backfired. backfired. And essentially the crux of the article, I implore everyone to read it, is that Vivek Ramaswamy embraced President Trump's brand and personality, and that didn't work out well for him. However, on the flip side, I'm thinking of Democrats who were successful in Republican held spaces, James Tallarico, who repeatedly said, this is not a fight of right versus left.

8:57This is a fight of top versus bottom. And he was trying to extend that olive branch to more moderate voters to Republican voters. And clearly it was effective because he won in Texas by double digits. I'm thinking of Adam Hamilton, the Democrat running in Kansas there. And in one of his ads, if you didn't know who the heck he was, you wouldn't know what party he was from because he said, I'm right down the middle. He didn't say the word Democrat once. Do you think Republicans could take a page here from that book for 2028 and beyond?

9:29Brittany Martinez: I think so. I mean, we saw a little bit of that, this midterm cycle with Republicans, you know, removing President Trump from their website, his endorsement, photos, you know, Trump-backed candidate. I support MAGA. You saw them removing sort of some of those things at that point. And this was sort of in the summer when we first started seeing that. At that point, it's a little too late. um but to me it was really clear that americans wanted leadership that wasn't focused in political division and extremism something else from talarico and listen i am a republican and maybe we just see the world differently but a phrase he kept using last night which i thought was like a little bit too much but he is a democrat is love it's like this is this campaign is running on love and we want love to happen and it's sweet it's endearing um i think there's other words that we can also use about community but that was sort of a cornerstone of what he was saying now whether he practices what he preaches um and we know that he's gone to seminary school or or not that's another thing but that is that was fundamentally something that he continued to say over the course of the night in his speech that really stood out to me um so yes i i do think sort of trying to play this middle of the ground operative candidate is something that is probably increasingly going to be interesting to americans who are now more independent than they've ever been and that is very unique because we also know that in the last decade being a moderate a centrist in the middle has not been to people's benefit.

11:10Brittany Martinez: So I do think we see a swing in that on both sides. What do you think this all means for President Trump's second term? Because in this term or the last one, he's never been president when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate. So what does this mean for him? Because he was doing a lot of media interviews as the night went on last night and he sounded a little bit tired by the end. I was listening to one in Politico, but he said in other interviews as well that Democrats did a good job and they fought hard. He would work with them, but he retains veto power. On Truth Social, he posted this image of what looked to be like a MAGA hat, the red with the white font, and it said veto.

11:54Do you think we can expect President Trump and Republicans to work with Democrats in the next two years?

12:00Brittany Martinez: I think President Trump is going to have a hard time. I think that I appreciate that he can say we'll work with Democrats, but then, you know, almost in the same breath, he's like veto. So, you know, we'll see what he actually ends up doing. I think that he is surrounded by a lot of people who don't necessarily want to work in a bipartisan fashion. I think it would be in everyone's best interest to try to move forward legislation that is beneficial to the American people and work together. I also think that Trump is probably going to try to weaponize the veto. I mean, he listened. He said that he didn't care about midterms, right?

12:36Brittany Martinez: So who knows what he's going to say? Like, I don't care about 2028. But I see a world in which he tries to weaponize that to make Democrats look bad going into 2028. I also see Democrats probably knowing this is going to happen and putting forth legislation that will pass overwhelmingly, but will obviously get vetoed and say, well, he keeps vetoing the bills. so ultimately i think that we're in a lame duck we've been in a lame duck it's gonna be extra lamey and ducky um but hopefully we can get some stuff done for the american people because at the end of the day they are elected to do that and i think that we've lost sight of that in politics in our country it's crazy in politics that the day after midterms people start immediately focusing then on 2028.

13:22And I hate to do it, but here I am doing it anyway, because the person I'm thinking about right now, especially in this moment, is Vice President J.D. Vance. Because in the polls, in the first half of President Trump's first half of his second term, he was far and away the front runner, right, in 2028. He was called the heir apparent. Then things have shifted a bit. He's kind of in some polls neck and neck with Marco Rubio. What do you think this these results mean for him and his 2028 ambitions, if he has them? Because this was a referendum on President Trump. That's that's for certain, just based on these results, based on what Democrats were able to do, especially in red states and red districts.

14:08And then you see J.D. Vance there. Does he separate himself from President Trump in the next two years? What does that look like for him? Because if we remember Vice President Kamala Harris, she had a hard time separating herself from President Biden, and that didn't really work out too well for her.

14:24Brittany Martinez: Who knows what might happen in the next year, especially next six months. But the way things stand today, the president has a very low approval rating, if not his lowest literally in this moment, one of his lowest, right? He's hit that low mark a couple of times this year. I think, and I've been saying this, that in this moment today, Marco Rubio is best positioned to be able to secure the nominee when you're thinking of someone who is an admin official, because MAGA loves him. He's become their little sweetheart. He hasn't been threatening enough to Trump for him to go against Marco, which, to be honest, I'm kind of surprised about because Marco steals the spotlight a little bit.

15:02Brittany Martinez: I'm sure he doesn't mean to, but a lot of people like him. He's become a MAGA darling. But also there's folks like me who know where his principles have been in the past. And I assume that he still very much believes in the things that he's kind of always believed in. He can also resign and step away from his current role and just run full time versus a vice president. We don't really see that happening. So Marco would be able to remove himself a little bit, be able to lean into MAGA where he can and then, you know, even push back and say, I was very against this thing. Whereas Vance is sort of stuck there through the end of the term, for lack of a better word.

15:45Brittany Martinez: And so I think that he's going to have the hardest time, even though usually it makes sense for the vice president to sort of be the heir apparent and the next in line. I don't necessarily see that happening here. We saw, like I said, at the top of this conversation, Democrats win in statewide elections that in their state they haven't in decades, like in Kansas and the Senate race there, Texas and the Senate race there. I'm curious, Iowa, we saw Democrats flip three out of four of the congressional seats, take the governor's office, as well as flip that Senate seat. When you're looking at all of these races across the country, what race specifically to you tells the most complete story of what happened this midterms honestly i would probably say texas um you know it's a story of trump betting on the wrong candidate having a vendetta against cornyn and cornyn you know talarico has turned out to be the candidate of a generation he is incredibly great but when we're talking about polling as a politician he's been a great political operator But when we think about polling a few months ago, everyone was saying Cornyn would have this in the bag, no big deal.

17:03Brittany Martinez: So it's interesting now to think, well, if he was sort of a once in a generation candidate, what that race might have looked like. But it is a story of Trump betting on the wrong horse, saying this is my candidate in Paxton. And then later, you know, saying like, run as everyone vote as though I'm on the ticket. and then flipping and saying, well, I wasn't actually on the ticket. Like, this is everybody's fault but my own. And then Democrats being able to have some good candidates that they ran this cycle and were able to flip those seats of 30 years, of nearly 100 years. So I think Texas encapsulates what happens this midterm season.

17:48To your point, I just had, before you and I jumped on this conversation, had someone in Texas and we were talking and I asked him if Cornyn Brand and not Paxton, would Greg Abbott be waking up with different results, maybe in a different mood today? And he said most certainly he believed he would. And so, Brittany, I always appreciate our conversations and your insight here. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope to have many more soon. Yes, thank you. Thank you.