Republicans got absolutely poleaxed on Tuesday, and while we had indications it was going to be bad, the polls hadn't been right in a very long time. I seriously thought it wouldn't be that bad, and I was so very wrong.
But, what's done is done, and there's not a whole heck of a lot left to do but to pick up the pieces and figure it out.
Cam touched on a lot of what he thinks went wrong on Wednesday and his thoughts on how to fix things.
At least some of that is echoed by a post from NRA-ILA where they talk about how now, the real work begins.
While the complete picture from the 2026 midterm elections is still emerging, the results, to say the least, were not what gun owners wanted. Anti-gun forces took control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. They will also wield trifecta control of state government in the former pro-gun stronghold of Arizona and even in Wisconsin. The governorships of Georgia and Texas, as well as their respective houses of representatives, may also be poised to flip into anti-gun hands.
Yet make no mistake, this election was not a referendum in favor of gun control. Indeed, most Democrat candidates – from the party most likely to support gun control – took pains to avoid the issue in highly contested races or tried to portray themselves as moderates on it. And while national gun ban lobbies like Everytown and their billionaire patrons like Michael Bloomberg spent heavily to obtain these results, their campaign ads tended to downplay gun control, if they mentioned it at all.
Polls showed gun control was not a significant factor motivating voters this cycle. Their chief concerns centered on the economy and cost of living.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s policies on crime and immigration have helped to drive nationwide violent crime rates as low as at any time in the FBI’s history of measurement. And while hot spots of violent crime still exist, they are heavily concentrated in discrete neighborhoods and among discrete feuding social groups, most often in locales under legacy Democrat control. This is occurring at the same time as the Second Amendment is being embraced by a more numerous and broader cross-section of law-abiding Americans than at any point in the nation’s history.
They also correctly note that while gun control wasn't a campaign issue, it's still going to become a thing that will impact us all.
For the last handful of years, for example, I haven't worried about gun control measures introduced in the Georgia General Assembly. After all, Republicans controlled pretty much everything. They wouldn't even get a vote.
Now, Democrats actually control the state House, the governorship, the Lt. governorship, and every other statewide office. Republicans maintain a slim two-seat margin in the Senate. If just three Republicans cross the line for any reason, we've got gun control.
That means groups like GA2A become infinitely more important because they have the contacts and connections to make sure that doesn't happen, but also to potentially warn off some Democrats who might not be fully committed to the anti-gun cause. Pro-gun Democrats do actually exist, and they existed down here in the South for a very long time.
That's another thing Cam noted, after all.
This is going to be a thing going forward, and while the federal level sees us with a bit of a shield in the fact that the filibuster is still a thing, the reality of the matter is that we had that working for us when the Biden administration pushed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Sure, Cornyn is now gone, but his replacement isn't pro-gun Paxton but anti-gun Talarico.
The NRA-ILA says the real work begins.
Let's get to it.