There is a theory of democracy in which voters choose their own representatives. Both parties have been working to correct this.
The Washington Examiner reports this week that Republicans are spending real money in Democratic primaries to boost the most progressive, most extreme, most theoretically unelectable candidates available, on the explicit theory that a democratic socialist is easier to beat in November than a moderate Democrat. Democrats, for their part, are running independent candidates in red-state races specifically to split Republican votes. “Both sides can cry foul all they want, but both sides have done this,” a Republican strategist told the Examiner, describing the practice in terms that were honest about its corrosive implications while defending it anyway.
The Republican theory requires trusting that the general election electorate will punish progressive nominees. This theory did not work when Zohran Mamdani won the NYC mayoral election by 30 points, a result Republicans had predicted would be a catastrophic loss. It did not work in DC this week when Janeese Lewis George won a primary that Republicans had promoted. The candidates Republicans are funding in swing-district primaries have been winning the general elections that were supposed to be their downfall, which means Republicans are spending money to elect the people they were trying to use as punching bags.
The Democratic establishment responds to each of these results by warning the party not to nominate unelectable candidates, and the party continues nominating them, and some of them continue winning, and “unelectable” has become the word the party uses for people it eventually elects.
Only 16 percent of Americans identify as MAGA, per polling cited by the DCCC. The NRCC is branding its entire 2026 candidate slate as the MAGA Majority. The DCCC responded by publicly suggesting the NRCC should keep calling their candidates MAGA in swing districts. The NRCC has not adjusted.
When both parties are funding each other’s worst candidates and calling it a midterm strategy, what are the voters actually being offered?
Sources
Washington Examiner: Both parties turn to unconventional tactics
The Intercept: Who’s Spending in Your Congressional Election? We Tracked the Front Groups Fueling the 2026 Midterms
Slate: She’s an Antisemite, a Sex Therapist, and a Democrat. Why Are Republicans Funding Her Campaign?
