Republicans are ringing alarm bells after Democrats won a string of upsets in Tuesday’s elections, flipping seats and offices long held by the GOP.
Among the upsets:
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In Florida, Eileen Higgins won Miami’s mayoral election, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office in nearly 30 years.
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In Georgia, Democrats flipped a House of Delegates seat that Republicans had gerrymandered to be uncompetitive—a canary in the coal mine for GOP lawmakers who are gerrymandering congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
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In New Mexico, liberals flipped control of the Albuquerque City Council.
These Democratic victories follow other major wins in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as a significant overperformance in a Tennessee special election last week. And Republicans are rightly panicked.
“Georgia Republicans, we need to sound the alarm from now until November,” John King, the state’s insurance and safety fire commissioner, wrote in a post on X. “Our donors aren’t motivated and our voters aren’t either. Of course we need to talk about why liberal policies are bad, but we also must put forward a clear agenda to lower prices and help working families keep more of what they earn.”
The Georgia results are especially worrisome for Republicans. Democrats already flipped two statewide Public Service Commission districts in November by large margins. Altogether, it sparks concern that Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff will easily win reelection next year and that the GOP could even lose the gubernatorial race.
Democrat Eric Gisler talks to supporters about his election victory in a Georgia state House race on Dec. 9.
Meanwhile, the right-wing National Review said that the results of Miami’s mayoral election should “send shivers down Republican spines” because the results “are reflective of voters’ overall impatience with the Trump administration’s failure to rein in consumer costs.”
Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist and ally of President Donald Trump, was more direct. In a post on X, she declared that after Republicans’ Miami defeat, the “midterms will be a bloodbath” for her party.
Ultimately, these election upsets could not come at a worse time for Republicans.
They are outpacing Democrats in retirements and departures from Congress. That’s often an early sign that a party does not expect to perform well in an upcoming election since members of that party typically don’t want to return to Capitol Hill to be in the minority.
And as their election losses mount, Republicans fear as many as 20 more of their lawmakers could announce retirements and departures after the holiday recess.
Open-seat elections are risky for the party that holds them. A new, weak candidate in a wave election could lead to a loss in a district not previously viewed as competitive.
Ultimately, the blue wave is building as voters are angry at President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy and inflation.
“From historical midterm trends that favor the party out of power to President Donald Trump’s mediocre job-approval rating to consistent Democratic overperformances in this year’s special and regular general elections, the current national political environment favors Democrats,” Inside Elections’ Nathan Gonzales said.
But Republicans hoping Trump will change his tune and reverse their gloomy fortunes got a taste of grim reality Tuesday night, when he traveled to Pennsylvania to mock those concerned with affordability and declare that people who can’t afford high prices should simply buy less.
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Trump: “You can give up certain products. You could give up pencils. Because under the China policy, every child can get 37 pencils. They only need 1 or 2. They don’t need that many. You always need steel. You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. 2 or 3 is nice. So we’re doing things right.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-12-10T01:17:55.675Z
“You know, you can give up certain products. You can give up pencils,” Trump said. “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls. So we’re doing things right.”
If that is Trump’s midterm message, no amount of flood preparation can save the GOP from the incoming wave.
