GOP Senate campaigns in crisis as candidates 'nailed' to unpopular Trump: reporter

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

April 13, 2026 5:14PM ET


Senate Republicans are facing a full-blown crisis as President Donald Trump endangers their once thought near-invincible majority in 2026, Semafor's Dave Weigel told MS NOW on Monday. This comes as the Cook Political Report moves four Senate races toward Democrats, all of them in states that backed Trump in 2024.

"Texas ... didn't move into this analysis. Maine is in the same place," said Weigel. "But we talk about [Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer. His recruitment of Janet Mills in Maine was, one, a coup for Schumer. She did not want to do it. She is doing it. But Democrats are are fairly, I'd say, every week more comfortable than if they end up with Graham Platner, if it turns out he's able to survive the negative coverage of his race, that he can beat Susan Collins."

An important factor, said Weigel, is "that state has been actually shifting, even though Trump is competitive, when he runs, in the second district, that shade has been shifting towards Democrats. Texas is not shifting, but same thing — Republicans unleashed everything they had on on Talarico in the spirit of a couple of weeks, but they have not been able to put the Senate race to bed."

"And how involved is the president in this?" said Weigel. "This is another question hovering over a lot of races. You could look even at the Virginia referendum next week, Republicans are being outspent when they don't have a lack of money. The president has raised $300 million for a super PAC. That's not really doing much. Republicans have made ad reservations toward the end of the year. But where is the air cover they need for these candidates to change the storyline? Where is the evidence that going after Democrats is sticking?"

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2676708164/

[AZLD4Candidate]

1. Coat tails? TOFU TACO is political poison!

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Trmp has become the GOP's "tar baby". Everyone who plays with him gets tarred.

And of course they should have seen it coming -- but -- well, they're Republicans.

[Strelnikov_]

4. He has become a millstone for foreign reich-wing parties

as well.

Canada, Hungary . .

[travelingthrulife]

3. Pretty sure they nailed themselves to that loser.

[JT45242]

5. That $300 million for the super pac is only designed to pay for events at trump owned facilities or to kick back

through some deal he has with some of the media companies that owe him (looking at you Paramount). It was never meant to help the party, it was meant to skim off the top.

The felon only supports the party to the extent that it keeps him out of jail or facing war crimes trials as he ought tp.

[Simeon Salus]

6. Sounds like an AI prompt

GOP candidates nailed to Trump.

[PatrickforB]

11. Perhaps a better way to say it is that the GOP is being crucified on a cross of Trump...LOL n/t

[kimbutgar]

7. Wouldn't it be something if 2026 is a blowout win for Democrats

Winning 62 seats in The senate and the house 375 seats!

I can fantasize can’t I!

[PatrickforB]

12. Yeah it would! Look at Orban's downfall in a landslide, and according to Russell Vought, Orban's regime was THE

model for 'conservative' governance in Project 2025.

Rachel had a brilliant slot on that last night. Here whole show gave us hope.

[not fooled]

8. Sounds as though the decimation of the economy is getting through

to even the freeloader non-voters or careless voters. People who previously thought "everything is fine" when they didn't vote or threw their vote away on "culture war" issues. Because the GQPee has been enacting policies that actively hurt people, they got nothin' to run on now except trying to scare people. Economics at the grocery store now overriding moral panics about trans people or immigrants.

May enough voters pay attention this time and vote in their best interest.

[moonscape]

9. It's unbelievable what

it takes to pierce their invincibility. All that went before wasn’t enough.

Near total destruction of the world economy, insanity, immorality, hatred and so much more,

The bar is subterranean at this point.

[Justice matters.]

10. Dems must reach all the young gamers who never vote, and...

inform them about the "automatic DRAFT" the Republicans in power will target them in December...

Tell them when their letters will come to report themselves to the nearest enrollment spot, say goodbye to your games boys.

[PatrickforB]

13. Yep. They will go from VR to actually being ON the battlefield where you only get one life. n/t

[Justice matters.]

14. Yep. Up to 42-years-old.

Democratic candidates MUST inform them and tell them what they intend to do once in power (if they vote for them).

Ignoring this issue would be a big fail.

[FakeNoose]

20. We usually win when we go knocking on doors, explaining voter issues face to face

The Repukes will not do it, but Dems have always been excellent.

[Scalded Nun]

15. What to do? What to do? Sky is falling!!

How about doing what is right for your constituents and this country and put a stop to the ass-clown pulling us all under while he flails in a pool of his own shit (And once we do drown, whistle while walking away).

You have it in your collective power on the right to put a stop to this today! You have had this all along.

Do choose not to, you seal your own fate. I just hope and pray you do not seal the country's fate as well.

[cab67]

16. I've been saying this will happen for a while - it has a parallel in evolutionary biology.

There's a phenomenon called "runaway selection." It usually happens in the context of sexual selection - if a trait in one sex is highly attractive to members of the other sex, that trait will evolve rapidly and with increasing prominence. It can get to the point that the trait might even be mildly deleterious to the organism bearing it, but as long as that individual survives long enough to breed, it'll keep going.

There are, however, limits. Being mildly deleterious is one thing; being fatal is another.

A good example is the peacock. If the tail feathers are cut short, the bird flies better, runs better, and is better able to hide from predators. But peahens really like peacocks with big, flashy tail feathers that can be displayed as a fan during mating season - so although a peacock with short tail feathers might be better able to survive, it's unlikely to mate.

I've wondered for years if the Republican Party will ever hit that tipping point. They might approaching the point at which they can't win a primary election without the MAGA base, but they can't win the general election with it.

I've been disappointed before. 2024 is proof enough of that. But this feels different. I don't think MAGA will truly dissipate until Old Colostomy moves on to the next plane of existence, but the non-MAGA support they enjoyed in 2024 (and in 2016) seems to be drying up.

Will this lead to a fundamental change in the Republican Party? Will they back away from some of their crazier policy positions? I don't know. This may have less to do with the policy positions favored by MAGA voters and more with the obvious incompetence of the present administration. Some of those who want Orange Julius Caesar out of office aren't necessarily committed Democrats or progressives.

But I really do think we're seeing a tipping point of some sort.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Americans are fickle and eventually want change (in some cases, radical)

They went from Shrub as a 9/11 "hero" in 2001, to Shrub as an economic disaster in 2008, managing to trigger the election of the first black President, Barack Obama, basically waking up millions of previous non-voters.

This in turn generated a backlash and another demand for "change", waking up a different group of previous non-voters.

After a tumultuous first 4 years of 45, the drumbeat for change erupted once more, now with parts of both previous groups of non-voters engaged, with just enough who stuck around to elect Biden.

But the Wash. Rinse. Repeat. happened for change once more, and thanks to billions of dollars, 45 was reinstalled.

It's like a pendulum, now with a shorter and shorter swing period, and who knows... it could get shorter still.

[Karasu]

19. We know what will happen to the GOP. The same thing that always happens. They'll pretend to "rebrand", then ultimately

come out of that short-lived PR stunt somehow even more right-wing on the national level than they were before. It never, ever fails.

This was true well before Trump, and it will be true afterwards.

People really need to be paying more attention to all the news coming out of “Young Republicans” groups nationwide. That is where they’re going and always have been.

[Orrex]

18. Rather than "nailed to unpopular Trump," how about "smeared with Trump's shit" instead?

They've been happily anointing themselves with it for more than 10 years, so it's an apt descriptor.

[fujiyamasan]

21. Here's a link to the hill article which gives more info on the Cook report

https://thehill.com/homenews/5829228-senate-races-shift-democrats/

The report moved two Senate races from “Toss Up” to “Lean Democrat”: the fight to succeed retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) reelection campaign.
It also moved Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) race from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up,” and Sen. Pete Ricketts’s (R-Neb.) reelection attempt from “Solid Republican” to “Lean Republican.”
Husted, whom Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) appointed to replace Vice President Vance in the upper chamber, will likely face former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in November. Brown, a veteran of the Senate, lost in 2024 to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio).
Ricketts, meanwhile, is facing a challenge from independent candidate Dan Osborn — who lost to GOP Sen. Deb Fischer (Neb.) in 2024.
In North Carolina, former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley will face off to succeed Tillis. Further south in Georgia, a crowded GOP field — featuring Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Mike Collins (R-Ga.), along with former football coach Derek Dooley — are squaring off in the primary that will decide who takes on Ossoff.