DSA-backed House ranks expected to grow to at least seven
The nation’s major political parties are at a crossroads heading into Tuesday’s elections, a decade after President Donald Trump began remaking the Republican Party in his image. Trump faces the prospect of a voter rebellion that could force conservatives to rethink their allegiance to the 80-year-old lame-duck leader and his “Make America Great Again” movement, and some Republican candidates have already begun to distance themselves from him, according to the Associated Press.
Whether either party wins or loses Tuesday, the end of the 2026 midterms marks the beginning of a high-stakes fight over the country’s political future in the twilight of the Trump era, according to the Associated Press. That fight is set to surge to the forefront of American politics as new members of Congress descend on Washington and the 2028 presidential contest takes off.
Former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu, who is running for the New Hampshire Senate seat he lost in 2008, described the stakes: “When President Trump leaves office, it’s going to create a tremendous vacuum. And I ask the question, where does the country go next?”
More than any policy or principle, the most powerful unifying force in the modern-day Republican Party has become Trump himself, the Associated Press reported. Trump long ago smashed Ronald Reagan’s three-legged stool of conservatism that defined the GOP for generations — fiscal conservatism favoring small government and free trade, conservative social values and a muscular foreign policy. What remains today, the AP reported, is a fluid populism that changes with the whims of the outgoing president.
Trump helped move the Republican Party away from the country club and toward a much broader coalition of working-class voters, including a growing slice of the traditional Democratic base that includes Hispanics, African Americans and young people, the AP reported.
Republican strategist David Urban said he is closely watching whether the Trump coalition holds up Tuesday. “When we see that, that’ll tell you a lot about the future,” Urban said. “Look, if all those folks stay home — they’re disaffected because of the economy, or the war, or pick your exit polling issue — that then leaves a lot of questions of who’s going to be the next standard-bearer for the party.”
Most of the Republican Party’s 2028 buzz has focused on Vice President JD Vance, the 42-year-old former Ohio senator who went from a Trump critic to a Trump acolyte and could face the usual challenges of establishing an independent political identity while serving in the nation’s number two role, the Associated Press reported. Should Republicans have a bad night Tuesday, Vance’s presidential stock could take a hit, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, another popular 2028 prospect, could face a similar challenge.
That could open the door for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or perhaps even a vocal Trump critic like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is 64 years old and weighing a comeback.
Democratic officials, with few exceptions, are anticipating a good night Tuesday even if they do not win both chambers of Congress, but they do not agree on what comes next, according to the Associated Press.
The party’s establishment is cheering the ascendance of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become the nation’s first Black House speaker should Democrats win the majority. Frustrated progressives believe Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer are part of the problem and are demanding sweeping change in the people and policies guiding their party.
Such demands are especially pronounced among Democrats aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. Just two DSA-backed members currently serve in the House, and their numbers are expected to swell to at least seven in the new Congress thanks to the success of the slate of candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the primaries. Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed would give the left another vocal champion, although he is not endorsed by the DSA and does not identify as a democratic socialist.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democratic presidential prospect facing reelection next week, declined to say he welcomed DSA into his party when asked directly, telling the AP he wanted “commonsense leaders that are prepared to disrupt the status quo and know how to move fast in order to get things done.”
“I don’t want to be a party of no and slow. I want to be a party of yes and now,” Moore said. “I want to be a party that is deeply impatient to be able to deliver the kind of results that we’re hoping for and the things that we’re hoping to see for our families.”
Moore’s rhetoric matches the rhetoric of the Democrats’ energized activist class, but they almost certainly disagree on the tactics needed to fight Trump and his allies in Congress, and the party’s left flank could grow louder after the midterms, the AP reported.
Corbin Trent, a former adviser to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said Tuesday marks a new beginning that gives Democrats a tremendous opportunity to embrace transformative change on healthcare, housing and infrastructure. He said he was not optimistic that the Democrats who lead the party in Washington are up to the challenge. “This election is rejection of the status quo,” Trent said. “The fact is, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and the bulk of Democratic leadership has proven it’s incapable to meet this moment for what it is: a transformational moment to bring us forward.”
Trump will be in office for two more years whether his party suffers major losses next week or not, and even a politically wounded Trump would remain a dominant force in Republican politics and the next presidential nomination fight, the AP reported. “Until the day Donald Trump draws his last breath, he will still loom large like the Colossus of Rhodes over the Republican Party,” Urban said, referencing the ancient Greek statue that depicted the sun god, Helios. “Nobody is going to be more influential, regardless of what happens in this election.”