The end of Maga as we know it
The Republican party will regroup after their shellacking in the US midterm elections, but it won’t look the same Walking by a tattoo studio and medical spa on the pretty main street of Round Rock, in Texas Hill Country, Tarik Bakir recalled voting for Barack Obama in 2008 and Donald Trump in 2024. But when it came to the 2026 midterm elections, he was firmly back in the Democrats’ column. “I’m not happy with the…
Key points
- Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterms, taking states such as Kansas and South Carolina.
- James Talarico's Senate win in Texas was the state's first Democratic Senate victory since 1988.
- Analysts said costs, corruption and the Iran war left Trump supporters feeling betrayed.
The 2026 US midterm elections delivered what the article calls the most sweeping repudiation of a sitting president since the Watergate election of 1974. Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress and won in once reliably Republican states including Kansas and South Carolina. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico won a Senate seat, the party's first Senate victory in the state since 1988.
The article describes the result as a rebuke to Donald Trump's Maga coalition, with Republican losses spread across deep-red strongholds, suburban areas and rural heartlands. In Texas, Ted Cruz is described as the last statewide Republican still standing.
Why voters turned away
Pollster Frank Luntz held a focus group with people who backed Trump in 2024 but planned to vote Democratic in 2026. He said affordability problems hit Trump voters harder because they are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck, and that they felt promises on prices, wars and cleaning up Washington had not been kept.
Tarik Bakir, 41, a financial adviser in Round Rock, Texas, told the article he was unhappy with the Iran war and called the election a rebuttal to Trump. Patrick Gaspard, a former Obama White House official, said the result had created room for Republicans to move away from Trump.
The reason we lost is the war
— JD Vance
What comes next
Some observers were quick to declare Maga finished, but others were more cautious. Conservative author Charlie Sykes said it is not the end of Maga while Trump is in the White House, though it has been badly wounded. Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution said Maga has deep social roots and is not going away, but is unlikely to remain as dominant inside the Republican party.
The race for the 2028 Republican nomination has been opened up, according to former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Vice-president JD Vance wrote on X that the reason for the loss was the war. Trump spent the morning after the election at the construction site of a new White House ballroom, and the White House posted that he is still president.
