Republicans looking at ‘historic losses’ in the midterms, top strategist warns

Rhian LubinMon, August 31, 2026 at 1:15 PM UTC

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Republicans are looking at “historic losses” in the upcoming midterm elections, with new polling showing the GOP lagging in eight battleground Senate races, a top strategist has warned.

Historically, the party of the president has almost always lost House seats in the midterm elections, but the Senate polling has GOP operatives especially worried. Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both the House and the Senate.

With just two months until the elections, Republicans are down 8 points in North Carolina, 7.5 points in Georgia, 2.6 points in Ohio, 2.3 points in Maine, 1.9 points in Texas, and 2 points in Alaska and New Hampshire, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate data for the upcoming Senate races.

“It points out the obvious that Republicans are in pretty bad shape going into the midterms and that they’re looking at historic losses,” GOP strategist Terry Holt toldThe New York Post.

“The question is whether some of these races can be saved with some miraculous turnout that apparently is going to be very expensive or whether or not the mood in this country can be changed fundamentally,” Holt added.

Republicans are looking at ‘historic losses’ in the upcoming midterm elections, with new polling showing the GOP lagging in eight battleground Senate races, a top strategist has warned (Getty Images)

The bleak polling comes as President Donald Trump has resumed strikes against Iran, and the cost of living remains the most pressing issue for voters.

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“National Republicans have been sounding the alarm that midterms are hard since last year, and we’ve been firm that not a single race should be taken for granted,” another Republican strategist involved in Senate races told the Post.

Not everyone is convinced by the polling. Veteran GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin told the outlet that “Republicans are in much better shape than what a lot of these media polls are showing,” referring to private polling.

“Look, we still got a long way to go between now and Election Day,” he added.

While the president isn’t on the ballot this time, Republican candidates and operatives in battleground states are hopeful that Trump will throw his political weight behind them, as he has done in South Carolina for Darline Graham Nordone (Getty)

While the president isn’t on the ballot, Republican candidates and political operatives in battleground states are hopeful that Trump will throw his political weight behind them, as he has done in South Carolina for Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Trump’s affiliated MAGA Inc. super PAC dropped more than $800,000 in ad spending and organizing costs to secure Graham the GOP Senate nomination.

A strategist involved in several key battleground races told Politico that it was time to “put up or shut up” for the president and his allies.

“You’ve got September and October to really move the needle here, and it just doesn’t seem like there’s any sense of urgency, or like we understand that we are down big in some of these states,” they said.

Fox News personality Laura Ingraham last week urged Republicans to “get their act together” ahead of the midterms, while conservative activist ​Ned Ryun, the CEO of America Majority, warned that the GOP risks losing control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”