NEW YORK (AP) — When midterm campaigning began, each major political party had a clear game plan. Republicans would emphasize border security and an economy that was finally shaking off years of high inflation. Democrats would focus attention on a deeply unpopular President Donald Trump to energize their voters.It hasn’t worked out that way. With a little more than three months to go, both parties are grappling with self-inflicted wounds and messy missteps that have complicated their paths to victory.
Trump steered the country into a war against Iran with no end in sight, disrupting the global flow of oil and spiking prices at the pump. He remains fixated on purging his party of dissent and relitigating his election defeat six years ago. He’s visiting Georgia on Wednesday to ostensibly promote new investment accounts for children, but what he’ll actually talk about is anyone’s guess.
President Donald Trump speaks during a media conference, flanked by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/ Emrah Gurel)
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are in the throes of an internal civil war between moderates and progressives, as democratic socialists successfully oust incumbents in places including New York and Denver. Some of their candidates have imploded in spectacular fashion, jeopardizing races that the party had expected to win. The drama has turned existential as each party faces a moment of reckoning. Democrats remain shaken by Trump’s reelection and are desperately searching for a path back to power. Republicans are beginning to contemplate a post-Trump era even as the president maintains an iron grip on the party.
