On Tuesday, a liberal judge cleaned out her conservative rival in a pivotal court race in Wisconsin, while GOP House candidates in two Florida districts underperformed Donald Trump's 2024 result by more than 15 points, sending jolts of panic through a Republican Party wary of what those portend for the 2026 midterms. And that's before the president announced "reciprocal" tariffs Wednesday that some Republican lawmakers fear will wreak havoc on both the economy and their standing among voters.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., was a beneficiary of both the 2010 and 2014 midterm backlash against former President Barack Obama, which carried him to the speakership of the North Carolina House of Representatives and then to the Senate, respectively. On Wednesday, he warned in an interview with Politico that Republicans risk inviting the same fate in 2026, when he is up for re-election.
