Amid the Democratic slaughter of Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, there was good news for the GOP in Nebraska, as U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts defeated independent Dan Osborn, NBC News projected.

Osborn, a pipe fitter, faced a barrage of attacks calling him a secret Democrat, the news network reported, adding that Osborn said he wouldn't caucus with either party if elected, but the Nebraska Democratic Party still backed him.

'We don't need a socialist ideology.'

“Democrat Dan is too extreme, and he would be the most extreme senator we’ve ever sent to the U.S. Senate from Nebraska,” Ricketts said at a September debate, according to NBC News. “And if he were in charge of the Senate and gave it to the Democrats, that would be a disaster for Nebraska.”

More from NBC News:

The sharp attacks underscored the tougher-than-expected nature of the race in a state Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2024. The same year, Ricketts won a special election to serve the final two years of GOP former Sen. Ben Sasse’s term by 25 percentage points. Osborn, however, lost by just 7 points in his first Senate bid, against Republican Sen. Deb Fischer two years ago.

Ricketts’ bid for a full Senate term became competitive amid Trump’s sinking approval ratings, with voters frustrated by high costs and the war with Iran. High diesel prices due to the war with Iran and Trump’s sweeping tariffs also hit farmers in heartland states, including Nebraska.

At a rally in Nebraska in early October, Trump signed an executive order expanding access to diesel used in farming, known as “red dye” diesel.

“Prices are all going down. Prices are all going way down, but they really are going to plummet as soon as that war ends," Trump said at the rally, according to the news network. "It’s going to be very soon."

“And today, I’m announcing another unprecedented step to bring down costs for many years. Farm vehicles, construction equipment, and other off-road vehicles have used what is known as ‘red dye’ diesel,” Trump said, NBC News reported. “Do you know what that is? I don’t know what the hell it is, but whatever it is, it’s supposed to be very good.”

The news network noted that Osborn — a Navy veteran and former union organizer — backed Trump’s move but called it a “Band-Aid.” NBC News also noted that while Osborn frequently emphasized Nebraskans' economic struggles, he "rarely directly criticized Trump by name in a state with plenty of his supporters."

Ricketts tried to remind voters that they elected him to statewide office three times.

While Ricketts was behind Osborn in the vote tally early Tuesday, the incumbent shot past Osborn later in the night.

RELATED: Democrat Kansas pastor — whom Trump reportedly called a 'pervert' — upsets Republican US Senate incumbent in historic win

Ricketts' chances may never have been too much in doubt, as The Hill on Saturday reported that Ricketts led Osborn by six points in a New York Times/Siena University poll — 49% to 43% — among likely Nebraska voters.

The Associated Press' latest vote tally Wednesday showed Ricketts leading Osborn by nearly the same margin: 50.4% to 43.7% with 91% of the votes counted.

On Wednesday morning, Ricketts in his victory speech emphasized that "we don't need a socialist ideology."

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Vice President JD Vance made his thoughts on the midterms clear Wednesday morning: The Iran conflict sank Republicans.

Vance saw the writing on the wall and noted that many members of the Trump-Vance coalition had gone in another direction. With gas prices high and unabating legislative gridlock, there were few paths to victory for Republicans.

'If you'd like to argue ... that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. ... That's at least honest.'

Vance's post was frank.

"The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026," Vance wrote. "There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is."

"But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster — one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this," the vice president wrote. "In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team."

"The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel," the vice president wrote.

Exit polls showed that Iran was a "crucial" factor in the midterm election.

RELATED: Iran conflict was 'crucial' factor in Republican rout: Exit polls

Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images

"Our voters showed up," Vance said. "And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats."

Republicans won white men by 12%, but lost their gains among Latinos and other races, according to NBC News exit polls. Young men also defected, swinging 41 points in Democrats' direction.

The midterms showed that these 2024 Trump-Vance voters are not guaranteed parts of the Republican coalition, despite trusting the GOP more on issues like immigration and crime.

"The reason we lost is the war," the vice president said. "The president himself said so last night."

"If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay," Vance wrote. "Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.

"But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there."

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In the three years that Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) has served as speaker of the House, he has seen his party enjoy a landslide victory and suffer a crushing defeat. Owing to the defeat on Tuesday, his tenure is up on Jan. 3.

Johnson's office confirmed to Blaze News that "the speaker will not be running for minority leader."

'I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority.'

The decision to depart his Republican leadership role in the House constitutes an about-face, given his assertion to CBS News last month that, "if, heaven forbid, we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would call upon me to continue to lead the conference in divided government."

"My intention is to stay and serve, and that's what I've been doing, as best I can," Johnson added at the time.

Reps. Steve Scalise (La.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) are two of the Republicans putting their names forward in House Republicans' leadership elections next week.

A person said to be familiar with Scalise's plans told Axios that he "is a proven and tested leader who is ready on day one. He's spent his career unifying Republicans and he is prepared for the big legislative and oversight battles ahead. The conference knows him, how he fights, and that he's a trusted leader."

RELATED: Iran conflict was 'crucial' factor in Republican rout: Exit polls

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Scalise has served as House majority leader since 2023 — the same year he dropped out of the running for the House speaker role.

Jordan also launched his bid on Wednesday, stating in a letter to colleagues obtained by CNN, "I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats' playbook. I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats' tactics."

"With your help, I will use every minute of the next two years working to advance our Republican priorities and restore our majority," he added.

Neither Scalise nor Jordan immediately responded to Blaze News' request for comment.

On the Senate side, a spokesperson for South Dakota Sen. John Thune confirmed to Blaze News that he will be pursuing the role of Senate minority leader.

Editor's note: This article has been edited after publication to incorporate comment from a spokesperson for Sen. Thune.

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Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in a sweeping blue wave on Tuesday night, flipping seats even in red states like Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina in a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration.

BlazeTV host John Doyle argues that the midterm results reflect a deeper demographic shift in the country — especially in places like Texas.

“This is not the same country it was even six years ago. I mean, everybody's looking at Texas starting to go blue. This is something that a lot of people have been warning about for decades, actually, as the demographic situation in Texas has changed,” he says, highlighting that the state’s white population fell and that the vast majority of Republican votes still come from white voters.

This demographic shift, Doyle suggests, is why Democrats are able to win with candidates who are “insane” and “very low-quality.”

“Now the conversation is not being participated in by people who are Americans, people who have deep roots in this country. It's this imported permanent underclass of foreigners who are happy to install people like Mamdani in New York or Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan,” he says.

At the same time, he says, Trump’s approval first dipped when the early mass-deportation videos appeared, and the largest swing back left came from Latino men, Latino women, and young Catholics — groups Doyle says are more "sympathetic to the plight of the immigrant” than to “American sovereignty.”

“I also think a lot of this too was driven by the fact that Americans like the idea of not having people flooding in. … They don't like seeing those videos of mass deportations. … When people actually start to see this stuff play out, the American stomach, I don't think, is as strong as a lot of people would like to think it is,” he says, highlighting the need “to be better on our messaging.”

Nick Freitas, BlazeTV host of “Making the Argument,” agrees.

“We mass-imported a population from cultures that were not just different than the United States, but in some cases diametrically opposed,” he says.

He points to Europe’s current predicament as a forecast of what is coming in America.

“It wasn't the first generation of immigrants that came into Europe that were actually the most radical. It was their children,” says Freitas, “which also says something about our own educational systems in the West, where if you really want to radicalize someone, just send them through your university system. That'll do it.”

“And that's what we're actually seeing in the United States now,” he continues. “You've had mass immigration with no assimilation from cultures drastically different than the United States, and the end result is that the second generation of that, they haven't become Americanized.”

Democrats, he argues, have been fundamental in this outcome.

“Why would you [become Americanized] when you can balkanize a significant portion of the United States and actually create subcultures which are completely capable of operating without even learning the language?” he asks.

“And you have one major political party that will just give you a bunch of goodies at the expense of American taxpayers, and the moment those American taxpayers say anything about it, they're called xenophobes or racist or bigots, and that's enough to shut down the conversation because our own representatives don't actually want to stand up and say something about it.”

As for Americans’ reactions to mass deportations, Freitas says no one should have expected the process to go smoothly.

“I don't know anybody that expected that to look good on camera. Hey, we've had 20 million people we got to deport, and they don't want to leave,” he says.

“There was always going to be problems with that, especially in Democrat jurisdictions where they're actively obstructing your ability to enforce federal law.”

Like Doyle, Freitas believes the midterm results largely point to the issue of immigration.

“This is what happens when you no longer have a high-trust society. Liberty, freedom, all of these things … are byproducts of high-trust societies,” he says. “We've had people playing around with this idea that if we just throw enough freedom at something, oh, well, they'll all become just like us. That's absurd.”

“Yes, the United States has a good track record of people becoming Americans, but never through mass migration. Zero. Never. And so if we're not dealing with that, well, then just be prepared for the fact that we're actually dealing with a very different electorate.”

To hear more BlazeTV hosts weigh in, watch the video above. You can also watch BlazeTV’s full election-night coverage below.

The name Jensen Huang might not mean much to most readers, but it should. He is best known for his signature black leather jacket, an odd stylistic choice for a man who effectively controls the modern world's computational brainpower. As the chief executive of Nvidia, he presides over a multitrillion-dollar empire whose graphics processing units power the global generative AI boom. He is also a key asset in Washington’s rapidly escalating technological cold war with Beijing.

A recent intelligence report about Huang should worry all Americans. It alleges that Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed, maintained a close relationship with Huang (not related, I assure you) while funneling critical operational intelligence straight back to the communists in Beijing.

Beijing doesn't have to beat the United States at innovation.

The public loves a spy story with a generous serving of Soviet nostalgia. Popular culture depicts trench coats, fake passports, microdot cameras, and shadowy handoffs on foggy Berlin bridges. Silicon Valley espionage looks more like a catered corporate retreat in Palo Alto, complete with $100 glasses of kombucha and nondisclosure agreements that nobody reads. Foreign intelligence officers rarely need to hack a server when they can simply take a board member out for expensive sushi.

The easy way up

Amy Kremer, a tech transparency expert at Humans First, recently pointed out a simple reality that most corporate boardrooms actively ignore. A rival state like China doesn't need to copy a proprietary neural network to win a technological race. All it really needs is access to the room where engineers discuss which research avenues failed, which suppliers are falling behind, and where the next billion dollars of capital will flow.

Beijing doesn't have to beat the United States at innovation. It simply needs to sit back, let American venture capitalists burn through billions of dollars testing dead ends, and then collect the refined results from the back door.

RELATED: The US banned this Chinese tech — it just showed up in more American products

Jay_Zynism/Getty Images

Silicon Valley’s open-door global talent recruitment model is fantastic for share prices. It is less ideal when a company’s primary product doubles as a strategic national security asset. Foreign-born researchers and executives drive much of the innovation coming out of California. Suspecting every foreign engineer of espionage would tank the American tech sector faster than a regulatory crackdown. Yet the opposite strategy — assuming a signed employment contract somehow erases geopolitical loyalties — is an act of spectacular corporate stupidity.

American companies treat national security as an inconvenient chore invented by bureaucrats to ruin quarterly earnings calls. Boardrooms celebrate global supply chains right up until the moment a foreign enemy turns those chains into a pair of handcuffs. A technology firm building military-grade processing power can't manage risk with the same casual nonchalance as a company selling an app that puts funny filters on cat pictures.

Business at war

The corporate executive suite and the Department of Defense operate on fundamental misalignments. An American chief executive sees an overseas buyer as a path to a massive annual bonus. The Pentagon sees that exact same buyer as a potential threat aiming a hypersonic missile at an aircraft carrier. Corporate profit margins will always demand global expansion, while national defense demands the strictest level of gatekeeping.

When corporate profits collide with national security, corporate PR teams try to split the difference with lofty manifestos about global unity. As the competition for planetary AI supremacy ratchets ever higher, that buttoned-down ploy wears ever more thin.

Washington is currently trying to regulate fifth-generation technological warfare using frameworks written back when people still dialed into AOL. Federal security guidelines for private tech firms resemble a screen door on a submarine. The federal government doesn't need to build a massive, suffocating bureaucracy to monitor every line of code written in California. Instead it needs to enforce existing trade laws and execute targeted intelligence audits. It must force corporate boards to audit their own inner circles with cold, absolute realism.

The primary battleground of modern geopolitical rivalries has moved from the diplomat's office to corporate conference rooms. Nvidia’s microchips represent the new oil, the new steel, and the new nuclear capability rolled into silicon squares. Leaving the front gate unlocked while spending billions on internal research is a strategy only an executive with a guaranteed severance package could love.

If the United States insists on building the world's most advanced computational engine, it should probably stop leaving the valet key sitting on the hood.

Hundreds were arrested in a recent multi-day undercover operation targeting child predators, prostitution, and human trafficking in Florida. The arrestees included 17 theme park employees, according to law enforcement.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office launched a seven-day joint-agency undercover operation "focusing on those who prey upon and travel to meet children for unlawful sexual activity, and human trafficking."

'He wanted to wear diapers.'

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the sting, named "Polk Around and Find Out II," is the "single largest undercover operation we’ve ever done."

The sheriff's office said in a statement that the undercover sting resulted in 281 arrests, including 239 related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, and aiding/abetting or transporting prostitutes.

Authorities also arrested 31 suspects in connection with alleged child sex crimes.

Among those arrested were 17 theme park employees, including 13 from Disney and four from Universal Studios. Of the arrested theme park employees, seven were accused of committing child sex crimes, according to the sheriff's office.

WKMG-TV reported that a "former Walt Disney World Mickey Mouse character was among those arrested in the child predator operation."

The sheriff's office stated that 24-year-old Collin Klaco of Clermont "communicated online with an undercover detective posing as the guardian of a 13-year-old boy."

"He said he wanted to do something in a public family restroom," the police statement read. "He drove to the undercover location and was taken into custody; detectives found diapers and wipes in a backpack that he carried into the house."

"He wanted to wear diapers," Sheriff Judd explained. "He wanted to put diapers on the children, and he wanted to do all kinds of nasty stuff."

Judd added, "He had the high squeaky voice, too, by the way."

Police said Klaco was charged with traveling to meet a minor, use of a computer to solicit a guardian, use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony, and attempted lewd/lascivious battery on a minor.

Judd said all of the Disney employees caught in the sting had been fired.

"These predators are out there, online, trying to groom and violate our children," Judd said, adding that "the things that these predators say to children are vile, disgusting, and not fit for anyone except trained detectives to read. And even seasoned, trained detectives are repulsed."

RELATED: US attorney announces indictments against 'prophet,' wife for alleged sex trafficking, forced labor in alleged church scheme

The statement said 40-year-old Orange County Deputy Sheriff Eric Raymond was arrested in the sting.

Raymond, from Winter Garden, also is a school resource deputy at Independence Elementary School in Horizon West.

The statement said of Raymond, "He answered an online ad placed by an undercover detective and agreed to pay her $110.00 to have unprotected sex during a 'quick visit.' He told detectives he is married."

Raymond was charged with one count of solicitation of a prostitute.

Sheriff Judd said Raymond "should have known better."

"His actions demonstrate moral turpitude," Judd stated.

Sheriff Judd continued:

The online prostitution industry enables and empowers human traffickers, allowing them to profit off the people they exploit. Our goal is to identify victims, offer them help, and arrest those who are fueling the exploitation of human beings like Eric Raymond and those profiting from the exploitation of human beings. Prostitution is not a victimless crime — it results in human exploitation, misery, disease, dysfunction, drug and alcohol addiction, violence, and broken families.

Police noted that 32 illegal aliens from nine different countries were arrested.

WTVJ-TV reported that 16 suspects have been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

WTVJ added that 32 individuals were charged with drug possession, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl.

Police said the suspects were charged with a total of 198 felonies and 290 misdemeanors. The statement added that the suspects had previous criminal charges totaling 358 felonies and 440 misdemeanors.

Law enforcement also identified 11 human trafficking victims during the operation.

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The lengthy and unpopular conflict in Iran has evidently had an outsized impact on the midterm election.

Exit polling conducted by NBC News and other media outfits showed that when thinking about their vote for Congress, 34% of voters said that the conflict in Iran was "crucial"; 40% said it was a "major factor"; and 19% said it was a "minor factor."

'The Iran War is the greatest political blunder in the last two decades at least.'

Twenty-seven percent of those who said the conflict was "crucial" and 42% of those who said it was a "major factor" were Republicans.

Weeks ahead of the election, a Gallup survey indicated that Iran was a top issue among voters, with 47% of respondents stating that the situation in Iran was "extremely important" and 30% saying it was "very important."

After Republicans lost the U.S. House and Senate in a landslide on Tuesday, President Donald Trump acknowledged in a phone interview with Fox News that "part of it was Iran." He also admitted that the conflict drove up gasoline prices and that price increases hurt Republicans at the polls.

The president suggested, however, that historically, the military operation in Iran is "going to be much more important than this evening because you can't let the number-one state sponsor of terror have a nuclear weapon." He also said that he "had no choice," in part because the nuclear deal brokered by former President Barack Obama "was the road to a nuclear weapon."

RELATED: Trump’s 2024 coalition was a loan. The bill just came due.

Trump was long a critic of his predecessors' costly foreign entanglements, stating both that he would end "the era of endless wars" and that it was not the job of American forces to "solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have not even heard of."

After brokering numerous peaceful resolutions between warring parties, Trump kicked off a conflict with Iran on Feb. 28.

While there were clear indications that such a military operation would be unpopular, a chorus of interventionists inside and outside Congress suggested it was worthwhile. The Washington Post's Marc Thiessen, for instance, penned an op-ed in January titled "There is no U.S. downside to striking the Iranian regime."

Support for the unresolved conflict — the projected cost of which the Pentagon told Congress last month was roughly $47.1 billion — currently sits at 35.9%, according to the Silver Bulletin's polling average. Opposition sits at 56.5%.

Despite the unpopularity of the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and the apparent backlash by voters, Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that he "did the right thing" and if afforded a do-over, he "would have done it again."

"The Iranian regime is evil. Few people have been as consistently vocal on this issue as I have," BlazeTV host Steve Deace wrote in an aftermath reflection. "But it’s one thing to use American air power to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon and quite another to drag our military and economy into a months-long quagmire with no end in sight and no clear definition of victory."

BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre tweeted, "The real retard right were the people who told you the war wouldn't matter."

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh wrote, "The Iran War is the greatest political blunder in the last two decades at least. A catastrophically stupid decision. An unforgivable betrayal of America First principles."

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It turns out Texas' 21st Congressional District is a big fan of baseball.

Running as a Republican to replace longtime Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), former MLB slugger Mark Teixeira took home the easy victory over Democrat Kristin Hook, who lost for the second straight time.

'TOTAL WINNER, on and off the field.'

In the center of Texas sits Congressional District 21, where Teixeira was heavily favored to take the dark-red seat.

"Big Tex," a former New York Yankees and Texas Rangers player, was a massive favorite just days before the election. Pollsmax had him sitting at a 99% chance of winning, while Smarter.Vote gave him a 95% chance and an estimated 20-point margin of victory.

Both sources were right to predict Teixeira as the winner. He fended off the blue wave that crashed through Texas on Tuesday and took home a win with 54.5% of the vote and a nine-point margin of victory, according to the AP.

RELATED: Former MLB star wins GOP primary to replace Chip Roy in Texas

Sam Hodde/MLB Photos/Getty Images

Teixeira had a very strong endorsement from President Donald Trump ahead of his Republican primary.

The president called Teixeira a "TOTAL WINNER, on and off the field" on Truth Social in February.

"Mark has a great wife, Leigh, and three beautiful children."

Both Teixeira and Hook breezed through their primaries with over 60% of the vote back in March. However, Democrats totaled just over 66,000 votes against Republicans' 95,500, a bad sign for the Democrat.

RELATED: Who put the left in charge of America's working class?

Winslow Townson/Getty Images

During her campaign, Hook promoted policies like making billionaires "pay their fair share," expanding voting accessibility (including by mail), and restoring abortion "freedoms."

Teixeira, however, promoted very MAGA-aligned policies like the expansion of the DOGE, border security, and fighting against "cultural Marxism."

In 2024, Hook lost to Roy by more than 100,000 votes, a difference of more than 15 percentage points.

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Missouri has once again voted in favor of a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion "rights" in the formerly pro-life state's constitution. The amendment first passed narrowly in 2024.

Republican lawmakers provided Missouri on Tuesday with an opportunity not only to undo the 2024 constitutional amendment and restore the state's previous near-total abortion ban but to prohibit sex-rejection mutilations and sterilizing puberty blockers to minors.

'We won't go back.'

Missouri state Rep. Ed Lewis, the Republican who introduced the amendment that ultimately made its way to the ballot in 2026, told the Columbia Missourian, "We just think that, obviously, transition surgeries should not be allowed, that abortion through the second and third trimesters is barbaric, that it’s a human life."

Planned Parenthood, which is not only a champion of abortion but a top provider of sex-rejection drugs, was among the organizations that concern-mongered about the amendment.

RELATED: Allie Beth Stuckey and Ginna Cross talk equal protection and the growing divide in the pro-life movement

Missouri Secretary of State.

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action, which resumed aborting babies after the state constitution was amended in 2024, accused Republican lawmakers of attempting to "trick Missourians into voting away their own rights."

Abortion Action Missouri similarly characterized the opportunity for Missourians to vote as a trick, stating, "We won't go back."

Evidently, voters largely agreed, deciding not to take Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) up on the opportunity to "restore common sense in our state's constitution."

With over 95% of the votes counted, the amendment was defeated 55.5%-44.5%, according to the Associated Press.

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Redistricting has been a hot topic lately. Democrats generally support gerrymandering when it gives them more political power, yet they oppose the effort when Republicans do the same. This time, however, Democrats can’t stand in the way as a redistricting proposal made it onto the Missouri ballot for a vote. Here’s what the people decided.

This year, Proposition A on the Missouri ballot covered the next phase of a mass congressional redistricting effort across the Show Me State. It’s based on House Bill 1 from 2025 that splits Kansas City into new zones designed to give Republicans more representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

A vote 'yes' on Proposition A upholds the newest district map that gives Republicans more representation.

The original plan was approved in 2022 under House Bill 2909, and former Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed it. The new map solidified Missouri’s eight congressional districts, with six Republican-leaning districts and two Democrat-leaning districts — all based on the 2020 U.S. Census.

Years later, current Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe signed HB1, a revised district bill that further divided Kansas City into smaller portions that could ultimately give Republicans control over seven of the eight districts within Missouri, further tipping the scale of power to the right.

Missouri Congressional District Maps/Ballotpedia

Proposition A put the revised map on the Missouri ballot.

After 99% of the results were tallied, the measure officially failed with 61.8% opposed and 38.2% in favor. That means Missouri’s congressional map will change back to the last version approved in 2022, where six districts will lean Republican, while Democrats will be favored in the two districts over St. Louis and Kansas City.

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Recent polls suggested that Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi was going to cruise to victory in her re-election race against George Soros-backed Democratic prosecutor Scott Colom. Like many of her GOP colleagues, Hyde-Smith had a rude awakening on Election Day.

As of Wednesday morning, Hyde-Smith and Colom were tied at 48.9% with over 95% of the votes in, according to the Associated Press.

'Sometimes when you think somebody is doing so well, nobody votes.'

Colom told supporters early Wednesday, "Our race is too close to call. We are going to make sure every single vote has been counted, and I am confident we will ultimately flip this seat."

If successful in unseating Hyde-Smith — a former state commissioner of agriculture and commerce who assumed office in 2018 — Colom will become Mississippi's first Democratic U.S. senator since 1982.

Hyde-Smith ran on supporting the Second Amendment, fiscal conservatism, defending the unborn, stopping illegal immigration, lowering taxes, and standing with Israel.

RELATED: Trump takes DEFIANT tone after Democrats take the House: 'Buckle up'

Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images

She enjoyed an endorsement from President Donald Trump, who joined her on the campaign trail last week and expressed concern about voters staying home.

"I'm here because Cindy’s doing great, but I just got to make sure," said the president, reported the Mississippi Free Press. "I can't take a chance. I can't take a chance. She's got no problem. The only problem is sometimes, and this happens in — sometimes when you think somebody is doing so well, nobody votes. They all stay home."

Colom, who may ultimately reap the benefits of some voters staying home, ran on lowering costs, raising wages, making "Big Tech pay its own way," and combating corruption in Washington, D.C.

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The Constitution is not a suicide pact. Donald Trump most certainly isn’t one. After Tuesday’s electoral massacre, the right faces a choice: Ride or die with this man through 2028, or declare independence and rebuild a movement capable of winning power and actually using it.

On Tuesday, we held an election between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks won. When do conservatives get on the ballot under our own banner? When do we get an at-bat? We won’t if we keep running on the same hamster wheel and calling it progress.

Tuesday proved how much the status quo can cost. We have nothing left to gain by pretending it’s working.

Name the conservative issue that lost Tuesday night. Voters in states that overwhelmingly backed Trump in 2024 didn’t suddenly embrace woke radicalism. They rejected Trump and a corporatist, corrupt, listless, and hypocritical Republican Party. Democrats even borrowed issues that conservatives like me have been pushing for two years.

Look at the wreckage: Democratic Senate victories in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, and Ohio; the loss of the Texas governorship; and a sweep through places Republicans had come to regard as safe territory. Democrats took control of the Senate and picked up at least 31 House seats. The full down-ballot damage will take time to assess, but the partisan realignment we were promised has been torn apart.

Everyone will manufacture an excuse based on his favorite issue. Some will blame the economy, others the Iran war, tariffs, bad candidates, or the usual midterm curse. Most of the conservative influencer class will perform amazing contortions to avoid uttering the name Donald Trump.

But it was all of the above, bound together by a Marie Antoinette presidency. Voters worried about paying their bills got a president boasting about a “golden economy,” stock portfolios, and a ballroom. Let them eat capital gains!

It was the tariffs. It was the war with Iran, launched with enormous fanfare and left without a convincing account of what victory means. It was the aimless legislative agenda, the Greenland fantasies, the narcissism, the Big Tech courtship, and the enthusiasm for data centers and the surveillance state. It was the endless spectacle of family business interests and questions about conflicts of interest.

This was the antithesis of Trump’s 2016 message. That message was directed at people who believed their country had been sold to the highest bidder. Now the White House seems astonished that those same people don’t celebrate every new accommodation with powerful interests.

RELATED: Democrats seize control of the US Senate

Tom Brenner/Getty Images

Of course, some good has been done. Border enforcement and other executive actions deserve credit. Nor can every Republican defeat be laid at Trump’s feet. But too many accomplishments remain vulnerable because the administration has failed to build lasting legislative victories. Worse, nothing resembling a fresh conservative movement can take shape while one man monopolizes its message, candidates, strategy, and imagination.

The party has become a personality cult with a fundraising operation attached. Trump endorses one dreary candidate after another, and the rest of the right is instructed to applaud. If you question the candidate, you are accused of betraying the cause. Which cause, exactly?

Tuesday also offered an answer to the claim that conservative principles themselves have become unelectable. Florida voters approved a DeSantis-backed property-tax amendment with about 62% of the vote, even as Republicans elsewhere suffered crushing defeats. Voters were also asked to decide 41 local data-center measures in 10 states, 28 of which would restrict development. These fights reflect genuine public hostility to political favoritism and unchecked corporate power.

Florida, for all its narrow margins, at least held its Republican governorship. The state has a governor with an identifiable record, a clear set of priorities, and an agenda he spent years putting into practice. Ron DeSantis didn’t build that record by changing the subject every time a shiny object appeared. Florida supplied the one-state wave in 2022. This year, it offered a one-state save.

RELATED: If Republicans can’t get Wyoming right, what are they fighting for?

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Instead of learning from that contrast, the GOP base and the Conservatism Inc. influencer class will be tempted to spend the next two years defending everything Trump says, excusing every failure, and hunting for a new reason to attack anyone who asks for results.

Here is the question every so-called conservative must answer: How do we rebuild for 2028 while Trump remains the godlike leader of the right for another 26 months? How do we recruit candidates with convictions of their own when he insists on anointing his favorites? How do we talk about a serious governing agenda when every day brings a new diversion?

We cannot spend the next two years defending corruption allegations, praising a “golden economy” voters do not recognize, and explaining away policies that benefit special interests. The president will remain the most visible Republican in America, and no amount of spin will change that. Believe me, he will remind the public of that fact every day The rest of the party must decide whether it has a voice independent of his.

For how much longer will we be a conservative soul trapped in the contaminated body of the gay old party? Tuesday proved how much the status quo can cost. We have nothing left to gain by pretending it’s working.

Rebellion against the administrative state used to entail packing up, moving to a log cabin in Montana, and trying your best to survive off the land. Now all it takes is a Venmo account and decent internet.

As Wired recently reported, Kristin LaHargoue, a Utah-based influencer who goes by “Minister Veda,” caters to a hyper-specific, delusional niche: convincing people that it is patriotic not to register their children with the government. On Instagram (@veda.revival), she posts videos of her family traveling internationally without birth certificates or Social Security numbers for her children. In her view, registering a baby with the government is an unforgivable surrender of parental freedom.

The great escape from the administrative state still requires the administrative state to stamp your little blue book.

Her business model is simple: commodified chaos. For $997, LaHargoue offers personal coaching on how to obtain a passport for an unregistered child, including guidance for dealing with Department of State officials. If that's too pricey, another option is available. For $497, she sells a downloadable bundle to navigate the bureaucratic minefield.

The problem, of course, is that the parents aren't the only ones who must live with the consequences.

Off the record

Wired highlighted the real-world fallout through the story of Sarah Ashley Townsend. Raised by a sovereign-minded mother without a birth certificate or Social Security number, Townsend spent her childhood largely isolated from ordinary society. At 16, she repeatedly struggled to get a driver's license. In her early 20s, she discovered that supposedly having her documents straightened out had not solved the problem. When she gave birth to her own son, officials couldn't establish her birth records, and his birth certificate had to be amended twice.

Townsend was 22, newly postpartum, and running around Maryland collecting notarized documents just to get her son the paperwork her own mother had denied her.

This sovereign baby concept isn't new. Its roots trace back to William Potter Gale, a former Army lieutenant colonel who founded Posse Comitatus in Southern California around 1970. Gale preached distrust of the federal government, insisting that county sheriffs were the highest lawful authority and that Washington had vastly exceeded its constitutional powers. His followers rejected federal taxation and claimed the right to resist authorities they considered illegitimate.

Posse Comitatus helped inspire later sovereign-citizen groups, whose members developed increasingly inventive theories about secret government contracts, fictitious legal identities, and the supposed power of declaring oneself exempt from ordinary laws. Some issued bogus liens against judges and public officials, attempting to weaponize paperwork against the very institutions they rejected. Others refused to recognize courts, taxes, or government authority, sometimes with violent consequences.

The underlying fantasy remained remarkably consistent. Reality was supposedly negotiable, provided one knew the right words and possessed enough contempt for the rules everyone else had to follow.

Monetizing paranoia

Today's influencers have traded backwater meetups and photocopied manifestos for selfies in front of Barcelona's Sagrada Família. Take Minister Dionne, who peddles a $555 "Status Correction" package. Or Marisse Vista, whose $7,777 "Sovereign Conception Program" promises such delights as ancestral clearing and womb activation. Yes, it's absurd, but it perfectly captures the current zeitgeist, with online chancers monetizing paranoia.

Now, to be clear, I am no fan of the paperwork police, and I am all for parents being free to make the best decisions for their children. But the claim that birth certificates make newborns government assets relies on the long-discredited straw man legal theory. According to this fantasy, a birth certificate creates a separate legal identity that the government uses as collateral for its debts. By declaring themselves separate from this fictitious identity, believers supposedly escape government authority. Courts have repeatedly rejected the theory, yet influencers continue peddling it as gospel.

They claim to be selling rebellion. What they're really selling is a bureaucratic nightmare.

The irony is that the passport procedure itself is perfectly legitimate. The State Department allows applicants without conventional birth certificates to establish citizenship through secondary evidence, including baptismal records, early school records, family Bible entries, and affidavits. This exists for people who genuinely lack ordinary birth records, not as some secret sovereign-citizen loophole.

LaHargoue and her peers frame opting out of government records as grand independence, but it is pure hypocrisy. These influencers reject the obligations of a functioning society while demanding its perks and protection abroad. Having declined to obtain the usual documents, they must then assemble alternative paperwork and persuade the very government they supposedly reject to issue a passport.

The great escape from the administrative state still requires the administrative state to stamp your little blue book.

RELATED: How to thrive without a Social Security number

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Sovereign headache

As Wired reported, one woman who purchased LaHargoue's instructional material eventually obtained a passport for her infant without a birth certificate. She submitted baptismal records, a family Bible, an affidavit, and a newspaper birth announcement. After considerable back-and-forth, the State Department approved the application.

In other words, parents are paying hundreds of dollars to navigate an elaborate government procedure made necessary by their refusal to follow a much simpler one.

A New York family lawyer told Wired he has seen an increase in parents attempting to reject or undo their children's official identification documents, while a law enforcement consultant described motorists refusing to show identification because they insist they are merely "traveling" rather than driving. Healthy skepticism is one thing. Pursuing a fantasy of total independence that only creates problems for you and your loved ones is another. Freedom is fantastic and necessary, but it doesn't mean freedom from consequences.

When a boy or girl grows up and runs into trouble opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, signing a lease, enrolling in college, or finding a job, the opportunist who cashed that fat check is long gone. The parent may get a fleeting rush of anti-establishment heroism; the child, however, is left with an endless headache, forced to spend years proving to the clipboard class that he is who he says he is — and that he actually exists.

Are American sports simply having a bad season — or is something much bigger happening? BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock believes the latter, explaining why he thinks the chaos plaguing professional and college sports could be a form of biblical judgment.

Whitlock explains that not only have sports turned their back on “all biblical values,” but they were founded and organized in the mid-1800s by Christians.

“This is all documented history. You can even find this information on Wikipedia. This isn’t hidden information. The Young Men’s Christian Association organized sports in the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s as a tool to fight first-wave feminism,” Whitlock explains.

“They started organizing sports to disciple young men in muscular, masculine Christianity. So, this is a gift — sports, organized sports — handed to us by God. And we’ve turned our back on it, and/or we have allowed non-Christians, the secular crowd, to snatch sports away from us,” he continues.

“And that’s why I sit here today, pondering, halfway believing, if not fully believing, sports are under judgment,” he adds, citing the “six woes of judgment” in Isaiah 5.

“Greed and land-grabbing, endless partying and escapism, defiance and mockery, moral confusion — when you start calling evil ‘good’ and good ‘evil’ — arrogance and self-wisdom, and then corrupt justice through bribery,” he explains.

“And in the book of Isaiah, God tells you there’s going to be this coming foreign invasion,” he continues. “And so, I just want you to think about what we’re witnessing in America. Do we not have these judgments? Are these not all obvious? Are we not experiencing a foreign invasion and a hijacking of our Christian culture?”

God, Whitlock says, came up “with a way through sports to encourage and disciple and develop masculine men with the right values.”

“And so, basketball and football and baseball, they’re all being organized so that Christian men can disciple young men in a masculine form of Christianity. And we’ve handed this over,” he explains, noting that “we’ve turned our back on this blessing.”

“And you wonder why sports are in total collapse. You wonder why they’re totally invaded by corruption — bad, corrupt officiating. You wonder why the athletes are falling injured at record pace. You wonder why the games, the quality of play, is no good,” he continues.

“You’re not going to produce good fruit from the world of sports when it’s been turned over to radical materialism and money,” he adds.

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Republicans lost more than just a midterm election on Tuesday night. They lost an essential part of the coalition that put them in power. And if they respond by blaming fraud, bad luck, or the usual midterm headwinds, you may as well start planning for another defeat in 2028.

This election is not a story about swing voters suddenly falling in love with Democrats. It’s about the Trump coalition hemorrhaging support from its base, and that is a much bigger problem. It is also one the Republican establishment seems uniquely incapable of confronting.

Presidents lose midterms. That is nothing new. What is new is losing voters from your base on an unprecedented scale.

In 2024, Donald Trump won with a coalition that included Gen X by 11 points, young men, and Hispanic men who had grown tired of the Democrats’ cultural insanity and economic failures. Those voters did not sign up for the latest corporate Republican seminar on how to lose gracefully.

They voted for mass deportations, law and order, accountability, and — most importantly — no new wars. Remember that campaign promise?

Did they get what they voted for?

The first two years of the Trump administration have seen some genuine, remarkable accomplishments. The FBI reports that murders fell by roughly 18% in 2025. Illegal border crossings have sunk to almost nothing. Don’t discount those achievements.

But where is the promised accountability for the abuses of the Biden and Obama years? Where is the follow-through on the Epstein files? Why do Republicans always seem to discover new procedural hurdles whenever the voters ask them to deliver on their promises?

And then there’s Iran.

Let me be clear: The Iranian regime is evil. Few people have been as consistently vocal on this issue as I have. But it’s one thing to use American air power to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon and quite another to drag our military and economy into a months-long quagmire with no end in sight and no clear definition of victory.

What does winning look like? When is the mission over? What, exactly, are Americans being asked to sacrifice?

Meanwhile Republicans still haven’t figured out how to govern. They excel at being a loud minority. Give them a Democrat to denounce, a hearing to stage, or a fundraising email to send, and they have all the energy in the world. Give them power, and they start explaining why they can’t give the base what they asked for.

Here is the question at the heart of Tuesday’s electoral wipeout: Is the GOP a populist party that answers to its voters, or a corporate party that strings the base along when it’s convenient? We cannot keep pretending these are the same thing.

RELATED: Iowa picks a Democrat senator

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Look at South Carolina. Trump backed Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham, for the Senate seat, and she went on to lose in one of the most humiliating Republican defeats imaginable. A completely preventable slap in the face to the president’s own base.

Tarrant County, Texas, is another example. That county has been a Republican stronghold, and it swung 30 points to the Democrats. You cannot blame a shift like that on voter fraud or independents.

Democrats didn’t need to reinvent themselves to capitalize on Republican failure. They borrowed the language of affordability and accountability while their ideological vanguard — represented by democratic socialist candidates across the country — kept moving left. When they take power, expect the mask to drop in a hurry. Investigations, lawfare, and political retaliation will be the order of the day.

To end on a high note, such as it is, we are not going to lose the republic overnight. As long as Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito remain on the Supreme Court, the constitutional order will stay more or less where it is. Without 60 votes in the Senate, Democrats can only do so much.

Presidents lose midterms. That is nothing new. What is new is losing voters from your base on an unprecedented scale. The White House needs to have a serious conversation about what happened if they want to stop this problem from getting worse.

President Trump needs to remember who put him in office. The historic coalition that made his presidency possible can take its support elsewhere if he does not follow through for them.

Republicans need to ask why its own voters abandoned them. And this time, they might try listening to the answers.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who survived confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and a litany of other policy fights, was finally defeated Wednesday morning by Democrat Troy Jackson.

Jackson led 52.4% to 47.5% with 69.2% of the expected vote in, according to NBC News. Collins conceded early Wednesday morning.

'Maine, I owe you everything.'

“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate. I’m proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years,” Collins said in a statement.

“I called Troy Jackson tonight to congratulate him and to assure him that my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition,” she said.

Jackson addressed supporters at his election party in Portland early Wednesday, according to the AP.

Oysterman Graham Platner, Democrats' pick prior to Troy Jackson, won the June 9 primary with 72.1% of the vote. He withdrew in July after allegations of sexual assault, PBS NewsHour reported.

Platner called the allegation “categorically false.”

Delegates picked Jackson, 58, a former Maine Senate president, to replace Platner on July 25 by a vote of 566 to five.

RELATED: Democrat Roy Cooper sails to victory in North Carolina

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Jackson expressed his gratitude on X early Wednesday morning.

"Maine, I owe you everything," Jackson wrote. "I’m ready to get to work for Mainers in the U.S. Senate, and I promise you this: I’ll never forget where I came from or who I’m fighting for. Thank you. Let’s go build a government that works for all of us."

Jackson raised $20.4 million in the quarter ending in September, nearly four times Collins’ $5.2 million, according to the Bangor Daily News. Pro-Collins groups still outspent pro-Jackson groups on ads, $85.3 million to $53.9 million, according to AdImpact data.

Collins was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. She was the last Republican in Congress from New England, according to the AP. She ran on her record of crossing President Donald Trump.

“I voted against my party more than any other senator on either side of the aisle,” she said in the Oct. 6 debate.

Her loss capped a rough night for Republicans. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate, according to NBC News.

No sitting Maine senator had lost re-election since 1978, according to Maine Public.

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Democratic hopes to seize control of both chambers of Congress came to fruition on election night.

Republicans hoped to hold onto their slim lead in the Senate after losing the House of Representatives relatively early Tuesday night, but that effort ultimately failed.

'President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.'

NBC News projected the fall of the Senate, and Fox News also confirmed the development.

Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress will severely hamper the efforts of President Donald Trump to pass laws and nominate judges. They have also indicated that they plan to open numerous investigations into the Trump administration.

"LAWYER UP," wrote Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the incoming chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Among the more stunning results were James Talarico beating Ken Paxton soundly for one of the Texas U.S. Senate seats and longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins losing her seat in Maine.

Exit polling found that voters were most concerned with the economy and their worsening financial fortunes.

The president has responded to the astounding losses by blaming the quality of the Republican candidates and claiming that he would have won in a landslide had he been on the ballot.

"President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves," read a statement from a White House official.

RELATED: Trump takes DEFIANT tone after Democrats take the House: 'Buckle up'

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis related what the consequences were of his party losing control of Congress.

"Chance of confirming a worthy successor to [Supreme Court] Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term: Zero," he wrote in a post on social media.

"Chance of confirming a worthy successor during a hypothetical GOP admin 2029-2033: probably zero (GOP won’t be able to recapture enough seats in 28)," he added.

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Adam Hamilton — a Democrat Kansas pastor whom President Donald Trump reportedly called a "pervert" — has beaten his incumbent counterpart, Republican Roger Marshall, for U.S. Senate in a historic upset.

No Democrat from Kansas has won a U.S. Senate seat since 1932, according to the Associated Press, which called the race for Hamilton late Tuesday night with him leading Marshall by about six percentage points.

'If you're not in favor of same-sex marriage, then be who you are. But do it lovingly.'

Hamilton — the longtime pastor for one of the largest United Methodist churches in the nation — is a supporter of transgender rights, abortion rights, and same-sex marriage, The Hill reported.

In a Park City rally last month, Trump said Hamilton “openly mocks Jesus" due to his stance on transgender rights, the Washington Post said.

Hamilton responded by saying that Trump painting him as a "pervert" was "sad" and "pathetic," The Hill noted. Hamilton added, "It doesn't bother me. I feel like that says more about him than it says about me.”

NBC News said Hamilton's "upset victory in a state Donald Trump carried by 16 points in the 2024 election gives Democrats a major boost in the fight for the Senate majority."

RELATED: Trump bashes 'radical left' group accused of handing gift cards to voters: 'This is a criminal offense!'

What's more, the news network said Hamilton has never held public office and was registered as a Republican until earlier this year. NBC News added that Hamilton, 62, ran as a moderate and garnered bipartisan support.

Hamilton said he will work with Trump on "anything the president wants to do that’s good for the people of Kansas," The Hill noted.

As for the defeated Marshall, NBC News said he served two terms in the House prior to winning his first term in the Senate by 11 points in 2020.

As for his sociopolitical stances, Hamilton said, "There's room for people to have differences of opinion on things. If you're not in favor of same-sex marriage, then be who you are. But do it lovingly.”

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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was voted out of office on Tuesday, losing to Gina Hinojosa — an open-borders Democrat who has championed taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens and sanctuary cities in the Lone Star State.

Abbott, who first assumed office in 2015 and led his state through the worst of the Biden border crisis, called the Texas Democratic state representative Tuesday evening to concede the race after trailing her by double digits.

'You all helped me to be your governor for 12 years.'

With 82% of the votes in, Hinojosa led Abbott 53%-45.7%, according to the Associated Press.

In response to the Abbott campaign characterizing her as a radical, Hinojosa said, "I plan to spend an entire campaign focused on the fact that working people are too broke," adding that her "pronouns are mom, Texan, and soon-to-be governor."

Hinojosa — who previously voted against restrictions on sex-rejection surgeries on kids — largely ran on a populist platform, promising to "lower healthcare, grocery, and utility costs, make home ownership a reality, and put $1500 in your pocket."

RELATED: Paxton swept away by blue wave after most expensive Senate race on record

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Her win constitutes a major upset — not only for Abbott but in a state that hasn't had a Democratic governor since 1995.

Although the Republican-controlled state legislature can restrict her ability to radically transform Texas, she in turn can torpedo Republican lawmakers' agenda with vetoes and strategic appointments.

Abbott, whom then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed in 1996 to the Texas Supreme Court, battled the Obama administration as the Lone Star State's attorney general and battled the Biden administration as its 48th governor.

He told his supporters after conceding the race, "The thing that I'm most proud about is that you all helped me to be your governor for 12 years. Thank you very much."

The governor also said that he would help his Democratic successor with the transition.

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Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek have campaigned for a U.S. Senate seat in Iowa, and the results are in.

Hinson and Turek have been nearly dead-even throughout most of the Senate race, based on data pulled from Blaze News Poll Watch. At times, their popularity skirted past each other, trading places with only a 0.1% difference between them.

‘What do you think about your own base if you don't want to talk to your own base?’

However, something changed in August. Although their popularity was still closely contested, Turek took a narrow lead and kept it all the way through to election night.

After tallying up all the votes, Turek won the Senate race, while Hinson suffered an upsetting defeat.

Turek will replace Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is retiring this year. His victory ultimately disrupts Republicans' Senate streak, becoming the state's first Democrat senator since Tom Harkin retired in 2015.

RELATED: WATCH LIVE: 2026 midterm election results — Nick Freitas, John Doyle, Steve Deace, Glenn Beck

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Iowa resident and BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who followed this race closely, said this about Hinson:

How many conversations [do] you think I've ever had with Ashley Hinson? It's a low number. Like the lowest of them all. Zero.

Somehow, I've managed to build the largest media platform ever to come out of the state of Iowa. I happen to have a media platform. [Hinson] wants to run for statewide office, and typically, [politicians] want to pay people like me to get access to the platform. No interest whatsoever.

What do you think about your own base if you don't want to talk to your own base?

Both candidates on the ticket have notable political experience. Getting her start as a journalist for KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Hinson later went on to serve as an Iowa House representative from 2017 to 2021, and she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

As for Turek, he has served as a House representative since 2022. Before that, he was a former professional basketball player, as well as a Paralympic medalist.

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