Brandon Jarvis

THE 2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS – A MASSIVE DEFEAT FOR THE GOP by Bill Bolling, a former two-term Republican lieutenant governor

(VPN) – Let’s be clear, yesterday’s election results were a total and complete disaster for THE Republican Party. These elections were all about President Trump, whose declining popularity and unpopular policies were an albatross around the neck of anyone running with an R beside their name.

Given historic midterm election trends, it was not surprising that Republicans lost seats in Congress, nor was it necessarily surprising that they lost control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the magnitude of the losses in states that have been reliably Republican for years shows that the GOP has totally lost the confidence of most Americans and it will take a long time to win that confidence back again.

In the House of Representatives, it appears as though Democrats have gained 30 seats and will control the House by a comfortable margin of 236-148.

But the biggest surprise came in the Senate, where Democrats have gained at least 7 seats. Democrats won where expected – North Carolina, Maine, and Ohio – but they also picked up what were thought to be reliably red states like South Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas. Races in Alaska and Mississippi remain too close to call and could result in additional Democratic gains.

Republicans lost in some states because they nominated terrible candidates – South Carolina and Texas – being prime examples- but Democrats nominated some terrible candidates as well, and they managed to win, Maine and Michigan being prime examples.

But the underlying theme was a rejection of President Trump’s leadership over the first two years of his second term in office. With an approval rating in the mid-30s and public rejection of his management of inflation, gas prices, and the war in Iran, the writing had been on the wall for quite some time.

And we were not immune from the carnage in Virginia, losing at least two Republican members of the House of Representatives – Rob Wittman in the First District and Jen Kiggans in the Second District. Republican John McGuire appears to have held on to his seat in the Fifth District.

A quick analysis of Virginia’s congressional districts indicates that Republicans underperformed, or Democrats overperformed, or both, by at least 7% points when compared to the 2024 congressional elections.

Any time a political party takes a beating this bad, it calls for some serious introspection, but it is unlikely that Republicans will do that, at least not right now. The MAGA base of the GOP still strongly supports President Trump, and that is unlikely to change.

However, the dynamics in Washington will change, and the question now on the minds of most political observers is what the Democratic takeover of Congress will mean for the last two years of the Trump administration. I’ll comment more on that in my next column, but trust me, it won’t be good, and it won’t be pretty.