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MORNING GLORY: Five Senate races show why Democrats may regret their primary choices
By Hugh Hewitt
Published September 17, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed. James Talarico. Peggy Flanagan. Troy Jackson. Chris Pappas.
These are not your parents’ Democrats. They aren’t even the 2016 or 2020 Democrats.
They aren’t even Kamala Harris Democrats.
MEET THE FAR-LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT IN 2026 MIDTERMS
Across five battleground Senate races, Democrats have nominated "outliers"—hard-left radicals whose appeals to voters have sent their would-be constituents headed toward the GOP’s alternatives in each state where the races are being waged.
In Michigan, radical Abdul El-Sayed beat Rep. Haley Stevens—an old-school, big-government liberal—by 1 percentage point in a race that pollsters often had him up by double digits, and his smallest projected margin had been seven points. Voters were turning on him even then as they learned more about his radical views.
SCANDALS, SOCIALISTS AND TRUMP ROIL PRIMARIES, SEND INCUMBENTS PACKING AT NEAR-RECORD PACE
El-Sayed eked out a win in the primary, but mainstream Republican Mike Rogers, who served 14 years in the House of Representatives, including a term as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, quickly established himself as a normal, pro-American Michigander with a love of football, Mackinac Island and Ford trucks—all of which El-Sayed had disparaged. Meanwhile, El-Sayed tried without effect to delete radical Hasan Piker from his bio, even though everyone in Michigan had seen Piker carry El-Sayed over the primary’s finish line and campaign with the self-proclaimed America-hater on the last day of the primary campaign. "Advantage Rogers," especially as early absentee voting begins in Michigan next week.
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico insists on driving off independents and moderates from his Senate campaign with wacky statements and positions that just keep coming. This week, a friendly questioner caught Talarico exiting a campaign event stage and asked, "Who is your favorite drag queen?"
SHOCK POLL: TALARICO TIES PAXTON IN TEXAS SENATE RACE, THREATENING GOP STRONGHOLD
Talarico didn’t miss a beat or take a breath: "Oh, my gosh. Probably Alyssa Edwards."
Talarico’s Texas opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, will no doubt be using that clip in ads blanketing the Lone Star State soon. There just are not that many Texans who can quickly name their favorite drag queen as they would a restaurant, a pizza topping or a Dallas Cowboys player.
In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins is always an electoral powerhouse, and never more so than this year as the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee—probably the most coveted seat in the entire Senate for a senator who wants to make sure his or her state’s critical priorities are funded.
DEMOCRATS WHO ‘NEVER VOTED REPUBLICAN’ BACK ROGERS OVER EL-SAYED IN RAZOR-CLOSE RACE
Voting against Collins in any year would be unusual—she embodies Maine’s moderation on political matters—but this year her seniority and 10,000 consecutive roll call votes have brought her to the top of the Senate’s food chain. She first drew Graham Platner as her challenger, but he had to quit the race after being engulfed in scandals. Democrats then turned to Troy Jackson, a perennial candidate who finished third in this year’s Democratic primary for governor in the Pine Tree State and whose charisma deficit is immense, made more difficult by the unusual features of his personal and political journey.
In Minnesota, cresting fraud scandals drove Gov. Tim Walz from the governor’s race, but his partner in failing to pay attention to alleged fraud schemes, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, slipped through a crowded field and brought her DSA-adjacent and Bernie Sanders-endorsed politics to a Senate campaign in which she is matched against "super-normie" Michele Tafoya, the longtime NFL reporter who has earned five Emmys. Tafoya surged to a tie in deep-blue Minnesota because the state is simply weary of progressive indifference to crime and fraud, and Tafoya is the definition of a "smart moderate."
Finally, New Hampshire Democrats turned to left-wing political lifer Chris Pappas to run for the seat being left open by the retirement of moderate Democrat Jean Shaheen. Pappas has been running for office since he graduated from Harvard in 2002. With each step up the Democratic organizational chart, he’s gone further to the left. Now he’s finally getting close to the Senate (and no doubt sees himself in the White House in a few years), only to run into a massive roadblock: John Sununu.
NEW HAMPSHIRE CANDIDATE JOHN SUNUNU BLASTS DEMS FOR NOVING ‘FIRST IN THE NATION PRIMARY’ ON RUTHLESS
The Sununu family has been serving New Hampshire voters in every sort of way for decades. They are all MIT engineers, and they are all moderates. Their political brand is among the best in America, and John Sununu’s decision to leave the success he has achieved in the private sector to serve Granite State citizens again is a sharp contrast to the forever-in-government Pappas. With moderate New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte also up for re-election, Sununu has the wind at his back and is running the classic New Hampshire retail campaign, where voters expect to see their Senate candidates everywhere.
NEWT GINGRICH: REPUBLICANS CAN WIN THE 2026 MIDTERMS — IF THEY FOLLOW THE PLAN
There are four other competitive Senate races of note: in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina. All four states were carried by President Trump in 2024, so every Republican has a good shot, especially incumbent Ohio Sen. John Husted, who is running against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who had been in office for five decades until Buckeye voters finally tossed him out two years ago as too liberal for Ohio.
All four will be hard-fought through the close of polls on November 3, but the five described above, in which Democrats nominated radicals and ultra-progressives? Not so much.
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In the Tea Party years, the GOP fell into the trap of nominating candidates who made moderates in both parties and independents shake their heads, and Democrats won again and again. Now the left has seized control of the Democratic Party, at least for a season, and Republicans are benefitting from the lack of discipline in the Democratic primaries.
This is how America always self-corrects against political excess. When El-Sayed, Talarico, and others get rejected in November, Democrats will have a chance to reset "between the 40s" of American politics.
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The country needs two viable parties. It’s time for voters to send the Democrats a loud message, just as they did years ago to Republicans: Nominate normal people, or lose, lose, lose.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-five-senate-races-show-why-democrats-may-regret-primary-choices